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Good morning. How you doing? Hey, good morning, man. Good to see you. I'm good. Hey, good to see you too. New background. Happy Monday. Yeah. Yeah, new background. Happy Monday.

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Tell the, tell the, tell the people, tell the people why your background's a little different today. Yeah. Um, I go to an office now, man. After five years of working from home, probably a little bit more than five,

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I go to an office, and I was gonna go about three days a week. I went all five days last week. Wow. And I'm thinking of doing the same thing. Yeah, man, I, I- Tell me- Was totally against it...

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tell me some of the nuances. Why are you, why are you back in an office? Why'd you make a change? I've been getting busier with Demo, which is good, but a lot busier to the point where, like,

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you know how, like, at, at times when you're working from home, sometimes you might step out a little bit, help with the kids or something like that, or maybe there's a project around the house where you're like, "All right, I'll do this real quick."

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Um, plus a lot of snacks, dude. Like I, I just, I devour- Tell me about it... my snacks- Tell me about it... at home. So anyways, yeah, I was like, "You know what?

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I'm just gonna go," and I told my wife, like, "I'll probably go two to three days a week." Sure.

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Set up last, uh, set up last Monday, ended up going Tuesday, and I was like, "Wait, this is actually really helpful," 'cause I have no other option but to sit in- Yeah... this little office and work.

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And then, yeah, ended up going Wednesday, Thursday, and it's like, "You know what? I'm, I'm just gonna go all week," so that's why. And productivity has increased for sure. Yeah. I thought, thought I'd hate to commute.

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I said I would never go to an office because of the commute. You said 15 minutes, right, on your LinkedIn post- It took-... I saw? Yeah. Yeah. That's not bad. Which isn't... Yeah, no, it's not that bad at all, actually.

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And it's actually, what I've noticed is it's a good way to kind of transition from, like, the work mentality to- Yes... home. If it was an hour, I wouldn't be here, like, at all. Yeah. No chance. Uh, so yeah.

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As much as I hate commuting, that is the one thing I miss is having that built-in time from home to work to mentally leave home and then having that time from home to work to mentally get back. Uh, super important.

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I haven't commuted since I had kids, but back before I had kids and we were just newlyweds, I mean, that was nice. Showing up at home already kinda, like, ready to be home and not super stressed from work still.

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Yeah, exactly. There's a, there's a spot for rent, an office space, I don't know, like, 3,800 square feet. I, I've been flirting with the idea of starting a co-working space, actually.

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And the ideal space would have room for first come, first serve, maybe 30 to 40, you know, not individual desks, but, like, tables and stuff, kind of commuter types of co-working spots. Yeah.

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Then, like, six to eight dedicated workstations, maybe four phone booths, you know, style, a conference room, and then, like, a, a shared space, you know? Yeah. Whether it's a, a kitchen or whatever.

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Anyways, that's what I had ideated in my brain, like, "Oh, this would be great. I'd find a spot. I'd renovate it."

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Anyways, a spot that already has exactly what I just described, move-in ready, went for rent or for lease in the perfect location. Mm. I've been looking at it the last 10 days or so- Dude...

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because I'm, like, legitimately tempted- You want someone to team up with you? Dude, I'm tempted to get a literal small business loan and open a co-working spot because of where this is.

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I guarantee it would be successful. It'd have to be, it'd have to be managed. I'd have to, I'd have to hire a president, like, day one. I can't do it myself.

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But, like, it's one of those things where I'm like, "I wanna do this so I can use it," like, selfishly. Yeah, yeah. Like, I'd have...

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I'd open, like, a little IRL podcast studio and have a Palmetto Parents, like, office space for, like, the headquarters. That'd be sick.

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But then I'd lease out the rest for, like, you know, day passes, monthly memberships, all that stuff. So I'm, I'm tempted. I, I get the appeal. I get the appeal.

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Yeah, it's- I still love working from home, but there's, you know, there's a lot. There's a lot you get to do with this. It's coming back, man. I made that post- Yeah...

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and not that I, you know, had millions and millions of comments or anything, but it did decently well.

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And according to the public, like, most people, there's only one person that was like, "I feel the opposite," but everyone else though was like, "I actually moved away from my house to go work in an office as well."

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Yeah. Was like, "It completely changed my business, how I..." You know, whatever, yada, yada, yada. So I don't know if- Yeah... there's science behind it, but there's people behind it, so.

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I'm sure there's science behind it. I've thought about building... It would be probably instead of this co-working o- opportunity, but I, I've thought about building something in the backyard.

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I've talked about this- Yeah... a couple times. But, you know, there's, there's definite cause and, and, and reason to separate. But okay, I wanna take a trip down memory lane for this episode.

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We've had some pretty good guests. I would say the most, I would say the most, like, shockingly vulnerable guest we had was Anthony- For sure...

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uh, who happens to be our highest performing podcast to date, which is- Really?... cool. It's getting a lot, yeah, 1.6 thousand views on YouTube, which YouTube is- Okay...

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historically not our highest performing channel. No. We get a lot of traction on Spotify. We get a bunch of traction on, like, Shorts and stuff, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts. But YouTube long-form- Yeah...

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is really hard, really hard to drive traffic. Anyways, we're getting a bunch of traffic still to that episode now how many months later? Probably three months after the fact. And I think there's a reason for that.

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I think people like to hear who people are, uh, like what you struggle with, why you are who you are, what led to you being, in Anthony's case, a seller, in our case, you know, entrepreneurial tech sellers, you know, founders.

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So I wanted to actually frame this episode as kind of a let's go there with Troy. And I want Troy to, to tell me about who he is, and I wanna start with the beginning. This is gonna be- Mm... 30 to 40 minutes of Troy.

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I want Troy- Mm... to tell me what your childhood was like. I mean, tell me kinda how you were as a kid. What was it like in Troy's house growing up? You can start as early as you'd like, as late as you'd like.

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You don't have to start with the day you were born. But, you know, what is- [laughs]... what is Kid Troy? Who was he like? Yeah. Yeah. I actually think that's a rapper, Kid Troy, something like that. Um- Kid Troy.

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Kid TroyHmm. Where do I start? Wow. Uh, putting me on the spot here. So we grew up... So I'll, I'll say this: I don't know my father at all, so he's not in the picture.

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Um, stepdad's throughout my life, but don't know him at all. And fun fact- How early w- how early did your biological dad step out of the picture? Maybe one. I actually have no idea.

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Like, my mom and I don't really discuss this, and, like, I've never met him. Well, supposedly I met him when I was younger.

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Have no memory of it, and it was when he was in prison, and I went to his cell is what my mom said. So I have no idea. Like, all I remember is- Do you wanna unpack that, or do you wanna move past it as fast as possible?

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No, no, we can unpack it. I don't care. I actually have- Yeah... I can talk about this for ages, 'cause I- it's like a stranger to me, you know? Yeah. Yeah.

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How does it make you feel that you don't know your biological dad? It makes me...

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I've always looked at it as a positive, um, because that's just kinda who I am as a person, but more so, like, what do I want to be as a dad, and what don't I want to be as a dad, you know? [laughs] Like, that's- Yeah...

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not what I wanna be. Yeah. So I've always looked at it like that, but growing up, did it have an effect? I think, like, if you were to

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put me in, like, a very deep therapy session, maybe there's something that you could pull out of me. Sure.

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But still to the surface, like, my wife always asks me, and even her parents are like, like, "I'm so sorry that you didn't know him." I'm like, "I, I don't care. I, I don't, like, I don't know. I'm good. I'm fine.

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Like, I'm doing decently well." Yeah. "I'm a happy guy." Like, maybe there's something deeper, and like, I, I- Yeah... I haven't explored that part of me, so. When did your stepfather show into the picture?

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I think it was, like... Let's see. They were together for a while, like, a decade, and then they got divorced when I was at college. So probably when I was, like, 10 or 11, and then they got divorced- Okay...

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when I was about 20, 21. Is he still part of your life at all? The stepdad? Yeah. No, no, no. He's- No... he was awful. He was awful. Oh. Oh, yeah. He was bad. [laughs] Sorry to hear that. I think...

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No, it's, dude, it's all, it's all part of it. I think my mom just got with him because she was, like, they... It's me, it was me and my sister. I also have a, a brother that a lot of people don't know about. Oh.

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But I have a brother. He's, like, eight years older. My mom had... Half-brother. My mom had him- Okay... when she was 17, and he's a, he's a, he's a loose cannon. He's in a bad spot.

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I probably, I think I've tal- actually, I spoke to him the, for the first time in September of this year, in about nine years, just 'cause he's a- Why?... he's not a, he's not a good guy. Not a good guy.

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Why, why- A lot of drugs, and-... did you talk to him this year? My mom thought he died. What prompted that? My mom thought he died 'cause he wasn't responding to her, and she was like- Oh, wow...

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"Could you please reach out?" Yeah, and I mean, heavy drug use, like... And we have tried. He's, he was born in '85, so he was 40 this year. Wow. So lot of drug use, stuff like that, and we've done so many things.

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We've given him, you know, four odd cars.

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We've let him li- live in our house growing up and stuff like that, and he's always found a way to just completely, like, screw everyone in the family over, like, one of those kinda things. Wow.

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And so, like, for me, I don't... Maybe I'll regret it if anything ever happens to him, but I, like, if I can see him trying to work on himself and better himself, I'd probably want to build, like, a relationship.

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But, like, he's never met the kids. He's... And he'll probably never meet the kids, to be honest, but which is weird.

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That makes me feel more [laughs] weird than, than my dad, because I did have a little bit of a relationship with him growing up, and I looked up to him and stuff like that.

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And then, yeah, I think at, he dropped out of high school at 14, in ninth grade. Hm. Ran away from my mom's house, went to go live with his dad, who was just, like, no rules, didn't care about anything kinda thing.

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It's his dad- So, yeah... your stepdad, or a different guy? Different guy. Totally different guy. Okay. I never... Maybe I met him when I was younger. I have no idea. Sure. I know his name's Paul, but that's it.

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[laughs] Okay. So yeah. Yeah, yeah. So there's that. How do we rewind it back? Yeah. Well, we started with your dad was out of the picture. Stepdad joined at around 10. So what happened between,

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you know, early childhood and 10 years old? Yeah, yeah.

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We weren't made of money at all that, during that age, so I went from, like, trailer parks to apartments, and then I think I was about 10 or 11 when we got our first little, like, f- one story, maybe, like, 1,400 square foot home out in a town called Roanoke, Texas.

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If anybody's listening to this and they're in the DFW area, you probably know that town. Is that deep West? Is that, like, El Paso West, or is that- No, no... where is that? It's DFW. No. It's DFW, but- Oh, okay, okay...

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right by Fort Worth. Right, literally- Sure... right next to Fort Worth. So we got a house there. My stepdad didn't... He had a job some of the time, and he also just milked my mom's job 80% of the time.

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So he was a, he was a bad guy. He was a bad guy from everything from, like, an abusive perspective to a drug perspective to a just careless, you know, alcohol... And look,

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I know people deal with this, and I know that people are struggling with this. Mm-hmm. So this is not to discredit any of you that are... And I said the same thing about my brother and stuff.

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So, like, not to discredit anyone that's going through that, trying to figure out a way to, like- Yep... help themselves. Like, I completely get it's hard and stuff like that, and I've seen it.

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I- I've seen it firsthand, right? And so just not a, not a good guy all around. Like, I remember several instances of, like, cops having to come to our house, like, that kinda stuff.

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I feel like I almost, like, block these out. Like, I never think about it, you know? And then, let's see. This was in- What was home life like during all that? Home li- yeah. Home life was, I loved playing with friends.

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I [laughs] probably- Yeah... I just loved being outside of the house. So- Yeah... when I'm thinking back to it, we ended up, when I was, like, 12 or 12-ish, we ended up moving to, like, this decent size home.

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My mom was at, like, 20 years at this one job. She worked for this one company for about 40 years. Started as a typewriter 'cause she couldn't get any other job 'cause she had a kid at 17, dropped out of high school.

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Ended up getting her GED. Uh, worked at a company called Travelers, big insurance company. Again, started as a typewriter. Slowly started making more and more money.

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And I'd say when I went to college, she was making a decent amount. She was pretty high, like, director or something like that. Mm-hmm.From there, um, home life was, I wasn't pushed ever in school.

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I think you and I kind of relate to this. Yeah. Not, I don't know if you were pushed or not, but I know that you also had an interesting life growing up, too. But- Yeah... wasn't pushed.

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I really wish that, like, looking back, I really wish that, I loved sports, but my stepdad, I didn't ever wanna listen to. Like, I, like, hated this guy. So- Hmm...

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he got me into golf, which was, like, probably, I tell everybody that's probably the best thing that he did was get me into golf at a young age. Sure.

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And yeah, I mean, it was just, home life was, you know, you'd go to school, my mom would work her ass off. So, like, she'd, she was working all day.

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She'd get home, you know, would le- drop us off at school and get back at 6:00 or 7:00, and then you know how it is. Dude, you have kids, like, you're tired, so it's not like there was a lot of quality time. Mm-hmm.

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Has that affected me? I don't know. I, I would say, like, my mom and I are not as close. We're close. Love my mom to death, but not as close as, like, my wife and her parents. We have a very

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weirdly disconnected but connected family. Like, we maybe do a, a family thing once every year, if that, and, like, it's 10 people that show up, eight people maybe, like, if you take the kids out of the picture.

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So not a big family at all. Don't know anybody on my dad's side, and no sympathy here at all, but I found this out about two months ago. My dad, his name is Robert,

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he has a sister named Cindy, and Cindy hit me up on Facebook, like I said, two months ago. Wow. And she was like, "Hey. Robbie died in January." And I was like, "What?" And I was, so I hit- Whoa...

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I literally, like, immediately, yeah, I mess- I, I called my mom. I was like, "Mom"- Like your biological dad? Well, I called my mom, and I was like, "Hey. Did anyone ever call my dad Robbie?"

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And she was like, "Yeah, like, his siblings and stuff did." And I was like, "I think he's dead." She's like, "What do you mean?"

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I was like, "Well, Cindy just hit me up on Facebook saying Robbie died in January, and she wants, like, she wants you to reach out to her to get some sort of benefit or something like that."

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So yeah, January of this year, lo and behold, I found out, you know, like, six months later. And I didn't have any, like... It felt weird, you know? Like, it- Yeah... it definitely felt, it was like whoa.

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Like, I don't know him at all, but, like, that's my dad, you know? So really weird feeling. I didn't get too emotional or anything about it. It was just like, whoa, like, that's interesting, you know?

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I don't, it's, I can't describe the feeling. So- Yeah... super weird. Yeah. Super weird. That is weird. Yeah. That is weird. You know, you were birthed from him, but you never once had a relationship with him.

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So really weird dynamic this year. Yeah, there's a, there's a family tree there still, you know? There's some- Yeah... there's some connections- I, I have the Munson name... some waves. I have the- Yeah.

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I always, like, growing up when I was in college, I was like, "I wonder if I should change my name to, like, my mother's maiden name, which is Hardin," which is a pretty cool last name. Um- That is a cool last name.

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[laughs] Yeah. But I was like, eh, I don't know. I, I, I, I'm, I've been Munson my whole life. I might as well keep it. Yeah. But, like, my s- my kids will never know any other Munsons besides us, so. Yeah. But- Yeah...

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let's see. Mom worked a lot. Uh, I have a sister. Sister and I, your s- typical sibling stuff. Like, we fought. Yeah. We loved. Um, she was two years older. What was school like during all that? Hmm.

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Man, ADHD to its finest, which it seems like everybody these days have, has ADHD. But yeah, man, I was bad in school, and I never- What does that mean?... once- Tell me about it. Yeah, yeah. I never once got into drugs.

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I think I smoked weed. So let's go back a little bit further. We'll go to, like, second grade, third grade, stuff like that. Sure. Never cared about doing homework. Never at all.

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Just wanted to play, like, would go home, never try to learn. I did not think that... I, I, I didn't like doing it. That's all it was. I couldn't pay attention to it. Couldn't pay attention in class.

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So as I was growing up, I moved to Connecticut when I was 13, and so I had to meet a whole new group of friends, which at the time, in Texas, which is where I moved from, I played baseball, and that was, like, my number one sport, baseball and golf.

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And so- So you were in- When I moved to-... Texas till you were 13? Yeah. Texas till I was 13. No accent. No accent. No. No, no, no. Because I do a- Did you do a city? I did do a city. Oh, do you have one? Okay.

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Yeah, sure, sure. So you weren't- Like-... you weren't deep Texan. No. I mean, I guess if you were... Actually, I was out in Roanoke, which was, what, like, 20 years ago.

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I was out in Roanoke, and, like, that was country back then, for sure, but no, I don't know. I just- Yeah, you don't-... don't have an accent... you don't sound like you're from Texas, so. Hmm.

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I don't have, like, any accent. I don't sound like- Yeah, I know... anything. I'm just, like- I know... a bear. [laughs] Um, but I mean, you don't really have any more- It's, so, yeah... you don't have an accent either.

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No, I know. Um- You move enough, you don't have an accent. I can, I can do- I know... a little Southern drawl here and there, but I- Yeah... you know, no accent. No accent. Yeah. Anyways. I whip out, I whip out y'all.

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Uh, do people in the Midwest, Midwest say y'all? Hmm. S- it depends. Depends on where you're at in the Midwest. Like, Detroit, yes. Chicago, not so much. Okay. I always wonder when I say, like, "What are y'all doing?"

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to people around here if they think, like, "Oh, this guy's a Southerner." But- Chicago is you guys. You guys. You guys, yeah. That was Connecticut when I lived there. Yeah, yeah. So moved to Connecticut when I was 13.

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Quit all sports. I was like, I ended up being- Why?... really sh- I, I was shy. I was like- Shy... well, couple things. Yeah, shy is one of them. Like, I was like, dang, I gotta meet a whole new group of people.

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I'm 13 years old, which is like, you know, you're, you're going through a pretty important part of your life starting at, like, 12, 13 years old. And so, um, went there, quit all sports.

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Everyone there played lacrosse and hockey, two sports I had never once touched, and so I was like, "I'm too late to the game to even start something like that." Um, so I got really weird at about 13 years old.

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Not weird, just quiet. I, I was just really, really quiet. So pause. Met a guy. All right, continue that and then pause after. I have a question. Okay. Met a guy. W- um, we're not friends anymore.

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He actually called me last weekend, um- Nice... it was 4:07 AM. So I didn't answer. I was, I was asleep. But I was like, "Why is this dude calling me?"

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Um, and he's ca- I mean, good for him 'cause he's caught up with me and, and- Sure...

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has reached out several times, and I, again, I met him when I was 13, so 18 years ago, and I haven't done my due diligence of doing the same and reciprocating it.

114
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But-Anywho, uh, made friends with him, and we were kinda like the bad kid squad. That's when I, like, I was in eighth grade going into ninth, and I, like, smoked weed for the first time.

115
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And then I smoked for, like, I don't know, six times, and then I quit. Okay. I had a panic attack quick and quit, and I've never dr- done a, a, a drug since.

116
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Even to this day, like, people will be like, "Hey, man, you want this THC drink?" and stuff. I'm like, "Nah, I h- I'm good. I don't want that." Yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah, yeah. So that was, uh, 13.

117
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I can keep going, but did you have a question? When you picture...

118
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Yeah, when you picture yourself at that age, 13, you moved, you kind of, uh, it sounds like became shy, maybe as a result of moving to a new place, being unfamiliar, stopped playing sports.

119
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What do you wish someone had told you? Um, that's kinda where I do wish the father figure came into play to kinda, like, force me to play sports, to be honest. Um- Hmm...

120
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I wish my mother would've been like, "Dude, like, you're..." I was really good at golf at the time, and that was, like, my... From ages 10 to 13, I played in, in competitions. Then I quit. Again, I just quit cold turkey.

121
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Probably didn't play, probably played, like, five times in the six years of f- living in Connecticut. And so- Hmm...

122
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I wish it was just, like, someone told me, like, "Just continue," like, or someone kinda pushed me, but, I mean, my mom was too busy to push me. So, like, I don't know. Yeah. So that's it. Like, just continue. Um,

123
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other than that, like, I think things... I'm not... I mean, everything happens for a reason.

124
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I, I don't know if I, like, always think of that cliche or think it's true 100% of the time, but, like, things ended up working out 'cause I was quiet.

125
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We'll get a little bit deeper into this, but that was, like, eighth and ninth grade. 10th grade, I kinda started breaking out of my shell.

126
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So at the end of ninth grade, I started dating this popular girl, you could say, and that's kinda what, like, sprouted me, was like, oh, like, I, I got friends now and stuff. So eighth grade was a little weird.

127
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Ninth grade was a little weird. Then I started, like, dating a, I guess you can call her a popular girl, whatever, doesn't matter. Um, what's up if you're listening. And so, [laughs] um- [laughs]

128
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Dang, Troy became famous? He's a billionaire now? Wow. Um- Lost my chance. I started dating her, and then that's when I got more into, like, the, the high school drinking stages of my life.

129
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Around the 10th grade- Mm-hmm... mark. And then, again, still didn't smoke. Didn't never wanna smoke. Did no drugs. And then, so whatever age this is, 15, 16, when I was 17, junior year?

130
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2011. 2011. That's when I... I always hate talking about it, or I love talking about it, but it's weird 'cause people get sympathetic, and I don't. Mm.

131
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But, um, that's when I got in a drunk driving accident with my friend, and he ended up passing away- Hmm... in the car on my lap, which was kinda crazy. So that was, like, a... You know, it's a dark story, right?

132
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Like, we, we can dive into that a little more. And so, um, like, it was me... Like, we loved gaming. Halo 3. Shout out to the Halo players. Yep.

133
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We loved gaming, and then we were just at a friend's house playing Halo 3 and probably some other, like, computer games. We also played, like, League of Legends. I never got into WoW. Couldn't do that.

134
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But we were gaming, just drinking, having a good time. Again, we're s- we're 17 'cause I had... My mom had to... I have a tattoo of his name on my chest, and my mom had to sign off for it. So we, yeah, we were drinking.

135
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Rainy night. Just went out. And I had just met the driver that night. The guy in the passenger seat I'd met a handful of times. Uh, he's kind of an asshole, and he... Whatever. I, I won't get into it.

136
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I don't know what's going on from a legal perspective. But... And then it was me and, and my friend Tommy, was his name, in the backseat. And actually, it's funny.

137
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Somebody else asked me about this story not too long ago, and I shared them the link, so if you go look up Troy Munson Simsbury, you can read the whole story. But yeah, we were just driving around.

138
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It was a rainy night, and, uh, drinking was definitely involved. And next thing you know, like, we just slid, we slid, hit a, a, what was it? A telephone pole or whatever. And then what I assume,

139
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I don't know, but, like, my... I was behind the driver. He was behind the passenger. What I assume, we hit... You know, we swerved. We hit the passenger side first into the, the telephone pole.

140
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I assume that, like, his head hit the pole, and it came back and, like, just 'cause everything was... It was disgusting, right? Like, the scene was nasty. And so,

141
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yeah, I don't know if I blacked out or what, but I remember just, like, we hit, whatever, blah, blah, blah. Um, yeah, and I looked down, and he was just laying on me, and I was like, "Holy shit."

142
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And I could tell right then and there. I don't know. You know, before that, I didn't know what, like, anything like that looked like or how to tell if somebody's, like, there or not.

143
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But yeah, and I remember Austin, who was the driver, which great guy. Um, even, even given the scenario, like, great guy. He... Poor guy. Like, I feel bad for him, right?

144
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Like, a, a crazy night leads to, like, what changes your life forever. So anyways, yeah, he was just like, "Yo, is everyone okay?" And I was like, "No, like, Tommy's dead."

145
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And so I just remember, like, chasing a car 'cause I saw a car drive by, and I was like, "Hey, you gotta call the cops." And yeah, next thing you know- So you, you got out. You were walking.

146
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You were, you were physically fine. Physically fine. I mean- Um, some rib stuff. In the moment, not enough to, like, s- keep me from walking, yeah. Was there a passenger in the front too? Yeah, passenger in the front.

147
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Yeah. And he was good. Did they pass away too? He was- Oh, okay. No, no, no. It was just- So it was just Tommy. Just Tommy. Just Tommy, and then, yeah, I mean, a- after that, I, I babysat his sister and his brother.

148
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They were, like, two and five years younger. Babysat them through the rest of my high school career. They, like, uh, they just kind of enjoyed and, and appreciated, like, having me around. Um, because- Yeah...

149
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yeah, that was when I... That was, like, I'd go to his house every week and that kinda thing. Like, he was definitely my best friend at the time. And so

150
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yeah, I stayed with them for a bit, then a bunch of legal stuff started happening, which is... That was a headache for probably 10 years that I didn't really have to deal with too much.

151
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It actually, like, fell more so on my mom, which was not fun for her. But- Hmm... I was a, I was a kid, so I think she was just kinda holding everything. What else? Crazy... Like, we'll just keep get- we'll keep going.

152
00:24:19.772 --> 00:24:32.788
Um- Yeah, I mean- Ask questions... how does, how does that, how, how does that affect-You now, as an adult who, you know, drinks socially- Yeah... you have kids. Was it... I mean, I have so many questions.

153
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Was it raining or was it like slick icy, like in the winter? Like what- Yeah... what do you think in, in hindsight, like what were the conditions that led to that? Obviously, the drunk driving has some- Yeah...

154
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component, but beyond that. Yeah, yeah. It was really rainy, so that could've, that could've definitely played a part. I remember the night of, like, we were... What were we doing? We were having a blast.

155
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I think that we were, like, climbing on top of schools and just being, like, rebellious, 'cause we weren't... Again, we were like- Yeah... bad kids, but not like ad kids. You were just- You know what I'm saying?

156
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Yeah, hooligans. We were just- You were like 17 year old- Yeah, we were just-... hooligans, yeah... 17 year olds just jumping on top of schools- Yeah. Yeah...

157
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like running on roofs, and I remember, like, we were just, like, sitting on a bridge or whatever, just having drinks or whatever, and stuff like that. And so, yeah, it was rainy, it was slippery.

158
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Again, that could've played a part. I don't know. And then you said now, like, I, I drink socially. What, what was your question about that part? I mean, I'm just curious how that affects- It shaped me or whatever...

159
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you. Yeah, I mean, if, if that had happened to me, I, I wonder how drinking- Yeah... would even, like, bring up memories or if it's just a totally separate thing in your head. Yeah, I like driving.

160
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Um, I hate being in the passenger seat of a car or anywhere- Hm... in the car, especially if it's raining. So that's one thing. Um, so I love- Do you, do you think you have some PTSD? In that specific scenario, yeah.

161
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So, like, have I gotten into the car with, you know, some friends that have had a few drinks since? Yeah. Like, I, I will, I will say that. Like, do I... Now I'm very cautious of, like, Uber. Like, hey, this person...

162
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Like, for example, I went to a, a, a Brewers game with a couple of friends a few weeks ago and I was, like, monitoring, like, what the driver was drinking, 'cause I was like, "I don't wanna go."

163
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I will Uber home an hour and a half if I have to because I don't wanna get in the car with him if he's drinking too much. And he ended up only having, like, two or three over the span of five hours, whatever it was.

164
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So I didn't feel- Yeah... like, that doesn't make me feel any type of way, but- Sure... I'm very cautious.

165
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I, I kinda look, if I'm getting into the car with someone, I kinda, like, monitor what they're doing, and I'm not gonna tell them no. I'm not their dad, I'm not their parent.

166
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I'll, I'll probably be like, "Hey, man, like you sh- you probably shouldn't drive," if it's bad enough. But, yeah, so there's that, and I love, I love having the control of driving.

167
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So, like, if there's any trip or anything like that, like, I wanna be the driver. Even though most times it's the people that you can't control, you know, the behind the wheel- Yeah... the other cars.

168
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But even then there's that part. That's about, like, that's it from like a, I guess you could say, like, a PTSD perspective. It's- Yeah... yeah, just getting in the, just getting in the passenger seat. Like, I hate...

169
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Like, and I'm always, like, l- I'm always, like, eyeing, like, the line on the side of the road, like, are we about to go off the road or not? Super- Yeah... just some weird, like, anxiety type stuff. But yeah, yeah.

170
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It's a little bit more about me on that front. I think that makes sense. Yeah. Stuff happens, it's traumatizing. I fell off a ladder getting down from a roof when I was 18. Hm. Pretty bad.

171
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It's get- Uh, fell, like you're stepping down on the ladder, and so my head was, you know, another six feet over the roof, and I fell backwards onto the ladder from that height. Hm.

172
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Uh, rushed in an ambulance to the hospital. You know, I was there overnight. Luckily it was okay, but- Yeah... I can't, I can't go past a certain point on ladders now without feeling, like- Yeah...

173
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severe, like, like- Easy... almost a panic- Yeah... attack. I, I'll do it. Yeah. Yeah. And I can get over it. Like, you know, it's been 15 years now, but, like, I hate getting on ladders- Yeah...

174
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going past a certain height. Uh, just, you know- Yeah... it all comes back. So, I get that. Would you like, like, in the house, are you gonna, are you gonna go up, like, three steps? Like, is that fine for you? Oh, yeah.

175
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I, I, I have A-frames. I- Okay. Yeah... I'll change the light bulb. Like, I'll, I'll even go clean the gutters, all that stuff.

176
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Like, I'm, I can do it, but like, you know, we have a house where it's, like, you have, it's a two story house, but it's, like, tri-level. So it's like a few stairs up and a few stairs up.

177
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So the roof is, like, your second floor, and then, like, almost like a third floor roof where you need a 20 foot ladder to get up there to clean the gutters. Hm. I just won't do it. Yeah. I'll just hire someone. Yeah.

178
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I'm just like, there's- Yeah, I wouldn't either. It's not- Ever... worth my life being at risk to go clean the stupid gutters up there. [laughs] Yeah, yeah.

179
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It's funny, I asked, I asked a dude, I called this dude who's, like, just my lawn guy. I was like, "Can you clean the gutters?" He's like, "Yeah, but I'm not gonna do the third floor.

180
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It's m- like, it's not worth my, my life." I was like, "Yo, you're the guy. Like, I'm paying you to do it." Yeah. "Like, who else should I call?" [laughs] So yeah, like, I'm like- Sure...

181
00:28:39.208 --> 00:28:49.698
y- yeah, like, it doesn't make sense. So- Yeah. Anyways. Yeah. Let's see what else. Um- So then you go to, you go to college, right, at, I don't know, 18, 19 years old, and you're there four years, five years?

182
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How long are you in college? Yeah, so real quickly before we get into college, couple things- Yeah... I wanna touch on. One is, this is super weird, and it's all coming back to me 'cause we're talking about it.

183
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Um, the mom of Tommy, her name's Christine. Tommy always told me that, she was like, this sounds crazy. A- and it is crazy. But he always told me that she was some kind of, like, she had, she always had visions. Whoa.

184
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She's always... And I know. It's like, whatever, it's fine. And she's super sweet, but I remember one time she told me one specific night, and it was like two years before, she's like, "Hey, don't get into a black car.

185
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I had a vision that you were gonna pass away if you got into a black car." Chill. And I was like, "Fine. Fine."

186
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Two years later, of course, there's a black car, and I remember, like, when I went to their house for the first time, 'cause that, like, that vision she told me, like, haunted me kind of. And so- Mm-hmm...

187
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I, I go to her house and I just remember her saying something along the lines of like, "I had the wrong person." And I was like, "That's scary." So there was that. Well, what else?

188
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The other way it shaped me is, like, we talk about this a lot, but, like, my biggest fear, biggest fear is, besides bees, is, um, like, just straight up death. And I know, like, a lot of people are scared of it.

189
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Like, I get it, but, like, I think I think about it more than I need to. I think,

190
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like, there'll just be random, I'll, I'll, like, be sitting there and I'll randomly just be like, "Dang, like, if I died, like, I wouldn't be able to hang out with my kids," or whatever. Hm.

191
00:30:15.408 --> 00:30:25.788
So one way it shaped me was, like, it emphasized my fear of that, and now that's kind of, like, I, I play a little bit of, like, this whole, like, weird little midlife crisis I'm not seeing enough.

192
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I'm like, dang, like, I could really die, like, any moment. This is kinda scary. And so- There's a, um- That's kinda... Go aheadYeah, I was gonna say there's a clinical term for that. It's thanatophobia.

193
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Have you heard of that phobia? No. Like fear- Fear of death? Is that what it is? Uh, it's technically an irrational fear of death. So- Hmm...

194
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I'm not the one to define whether yours is rational or irrational, but, um, some common features I just asked chat, obsessive thoughts about mortality or what happens after death, anxiety about loss of control, pain, or non-existence- Hmm...

195
00:30:59.188 --> 00:31:09.578
avoidance of reminders of death, funerals, hospitals, aging. Uh, it says it can manifest as panic attacks, insomnia, or existential dread. Um, some related- Yeah...

196
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topics are like necrophobia, which is fear of dead things, existential anxiety, um, which, you know, we've talked a little bit about that on the show. But yeah, I think- Yeah...

197
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there's ti- I mean, w- uh, I feel like it's just so overplayed to say the word midlife crisis at this point, but- Yeah... I feel like that's part of a midlife crisis is you have this dread and existential overwhelming.

198
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You know, you're overwhelmed existentially about, like, your own mortality, your- Yeah... aging, the fact that you will die someday, and it is unavoidable- Yeah... which is, it forces you to think about what happens.

199
00:31:49.428 --> 00:31:54.658
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. A lot of people don't think about what happens when they die until that crisis, and- Yeah...

200
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it's uncomfortable, so you either avoid it, which is what unfortunately I think most people do, is they avoid thinking about it, or you figure out what you believe about death. Yeah.

201
00:32:05.628 --> 00:32:13.528
And that's just as, if not more [laughs] uncomfortable than avoiding it. Uh- Yeah... yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So what else?

202
00:32:13.708 --> 00:32:24.148
Um, then the last thing, really random, um, but I'm thinking about it just 'cause it's high school days. Ended up getting, um, Lyme's disease in Connecticut too. Shout out Connecticut. You're kidding me. Yeah. What?

203
00:32:24.188 --> 00:32:31.778
Was able to get it taken care of. You still have it? Isn't that like terminal? No, no. Or not terminal, but like- If you... Yeah, no, I get what you mean. Like, it- Yeah... it is permanent. It's perpetual. Permanent.

204
00:32:31.808 --> 00:32:40.378
So like if I were to go get tested for Lyme disease, it would show up positive. But- Are you serious? What? It would, but it doesn't affect me right now, so I'm good. Okay.

205
00:32:40.448 --> 00:32:46.608
So now there's like antibiotics and stuff like that, that I can knock it out, like knock out the symptoms, unless it's like severe, right? But,

206
00:32:47.868 --> 00:32:57.808
um, they caught it super, super early, so they were like, "Just take this, you know, antibiotic for 30 days and then you will, you'll, you'll be good." So I took it for 30 days. I think I took it for the whole 30 days.

207
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I went to Mexico. Dang, that's a long antibiotic. But- 30 days? Yeah, I know. Yeah, yeah. So, um, and I remember my mom- They're gonna destroy you. [laughs] I know.

208
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[laughs] My mom, uh, lied to me about it 'cause she was scared to tell me. What? 'Cause when you look it up, yeah, when you look it up- Yeah, I mean-... it's, it's scary, right? And so- That's all I know.

209
00:33:14.148 --> 00:33:22.267
I've just looked it up. Like, it's like- Yeah... oh, snap. Yeah. Lyme disease. Destroys your joints and all that stuff. Like you just- Yeah, straight up like lethargy for the rest of your life. Yeah. Yeah. Like- Yeah.

210
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So I, uh, uh, she was like, "You just have really high blood pressure, and you just need to take this medicine." And I don't know what happened. She ended up telling me, right? Like, the lie was very quick.

211
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I think it was maybe a day or so, and then she was like, "No, by the way, you have this." And so I looked it up, I was like, "Oh my gosh." I think like at like 30 I'm not gonna be able to walk or anything. So we're good.

212
00:33:41.808 --> 00:33:49.918
Yeah. We're good. Doctor's like, "Just take this. We caught it really early, so you should be good." Yeah. But now- Yeah... my other fear is ticks. So I, when I went to Asheville, dude, there was like- Dude...

213
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seven ticks in the car and I'm like cringing. I, and there was ticks in my house over the other day. It's a problem, man. I, yeah, we just went to- I hate ticks... Asheville a few weeks ago.

214
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We brought our dog, and I think I found a tick on her head, which is like, we've been, we've been back for two weeks, so I, it's hard.

215
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She has really thick hair, so I just gave her one of those, you know, you have medicine, it'll just die. I'm like, well, I mean, she could have just got Lyme disease. Like I, I, I'm like- Yeah. [laughs]... you're a dog.

216
00:34:13.868 --> 00:34:24.688
I'm not even gonna go- Yeah... get you tested. At this point, you break your leg and it costs $4,000, like you, you know. Yeah. Whatever. Yeah. Hopefully she doesn't have Lyme disease, but yeah. Yeah. It's, uh- Yeah.

217
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All right. So we, uh- Ticks... we need to bring it in for a landing in the next 10 minutes. And- Yeah... I wanna move to dating, marriage life.

218
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So we'll fast forward, I don't know, probably five years here at least, and I want you to walk me through when you met your wife and how you dated.

219
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What about your wife you decided this is my wife, I'm, I'm taking it to the next level?

220
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And then we'll close it with all the things you've shared, how does it shape the way that you parent and the ways you have visions for your own kids as they grow up with, you know, a mom and dad in the house? Yeah.

221
00:35:02.408 --> 00:35:13.068
Yeah, so let's see. Went to college in Houston, graduated there, then moved to Dallas. Um, was there for about two years before meeting my wife. Dallas was just like first career job, all that fun stuff.

222
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Met my wife in Vegas. She was leaving Vegas from a girls' trip, her birthday trip. I had just gotten there for our SKO at the company that I was at. Um- Come on, SKO... so we saw each other f- yeah, shout out.

223
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Um, so we saw each other for, she was at a slot machine with her friends. I was with my friends. We just chatted with them. They were on the way out, so I probably was with her for about an hour.

224
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Um, at the time I lived in Dallas, she lived in Austin, and so she was like the one that I was flirting with, I guess you could say, in the crowd.

225
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And so, uh, we got each other's number and we realized, oh, like you're in Austin, I'm in Dallas, just kind of as a joke, like ha ha. Like yeah, sure, we'll talk, just both thinking it probably wasn't gonna go anywhere.

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Yeah. So it was sort of texting.

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I can't even remember like the very early texts, but I do remember like it went from texting to FaceTimes, like, "You're corny little, let's fall asleep on the phone" kind of stuff, right? So- Yeah, yeah...

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that kind of stuff happened, and then I finally went to go visit her, and I remember my first time visiting her since Vegas. Yeah. And it was super weird. I pulled up to Austin, like pulled into her apartment complex.

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I'm like, this feels like a very weird, like tender date kind of moment because like- Yeah... I only know you for like an hour, and- Yeah... we've just been texting and FaceTiming, like super, super strange.

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In the very beginning, why'd I like talk to her? I mean, she was gorgeous. She was stunning. I was like, dang.

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I s- probably at the time I was like, "Dude, she's so hot," but- [laughs] But anyways, I was likeWe were, we met at a bad time in our lives for sure.

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Very bad time, just we were both just partying it up, living the life post-college. Mm-hmm. Mm. She had her girls, I had my guys in Dallas, and it was just like I was, I was that after college.

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I was definitely a party kid after college. And so we had, like, a little rocky beginning, um,

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because it was me always driving out there, and then my company was supposed to be acquired, and if they got acquired, I was gonna move to Austin, and then it didn't get acquired, so I stayed in Dallas, and then it just didn't work out as long-distance.

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Your, the company you worked for or- Worked for... company you started? Okay, cool, cool, cool. The company I worked for, yep.

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Next thing you know they ended up getting acquired after saying they weren't gonna be acquired. And so that's when I hit her up, and I was like, "By the way, I can move to Austin now," and so- I'm rich. Yeah.

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[laughs] Well, no, I had no... Dude, I was like a little SDR. I had nuth- nothing in the company. [laughs] No equity. Yeah, nothing. So not rich.

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Um, and so I think I had like 5,000 bucks in my 401[k], and I actually cleaned it out to move there. I was like, "You know what?" Let's go. "I'ma take this, and I'ma go move to Austin." Nobody knows that, actually.

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401[k] versus love in the Octagon. Love wins. Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. [laughs] Yeah, move- moved to Austin. We ended up... Things ended up working out. Classic. COVID hit. COVID hit. Yeah.

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I think that accelerated a lot of things. It was just her and I in an, in an apartment, just obviously like everybody else, just, like, went on walks every day, stuff like that.

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Next thing you know, we randomly, before even being engaged, we put money down on a home, 3.5% FHA loan. What up? Come on, 3.5? And then... I know. And then- That's, like, unheard of. Never gonna have that again. Yeah.

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Some people- It was, uh-... out here with two-point-somethings, and I'm like- Yeah, so-... disgusting me. Well, our, our interest... So we only had to put, no, no, 3.5% down. Our, our mortgage was- Oh, sure, sure, sure.

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Yes, 3.5% down. Yeah, yeah. Our mortgage was 2.6%, which is crazy. Never will see that again. Yeah, that's insane. But anyways, we put 13K down.

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That was, like, our, like, our biggest financial gain for sure was selling that house. 100%. And then, uh, yeah, man, next thing you know, like, things just worked out.

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We got married in 2021, and we met in 2019 in Mexico. Uh, had kids a year and a half later. You got married in Mexico? Yeah, we got... We had- Nice... just 12 people. Sweet. What part? We both brought a- Where?

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Isla Mujeres. It's, uh- Is that east side?-... outside Cancun. You-... west side? Okay. You go to Cancun- I know where that is... and you take a boat to Isla Mujeres. It's an island. Oh, nice. It's gorgeous.

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You should go. Your, you would love it. I just stayed in Cancun, uh, I don't know, s- six months ago now for the, uh- Love, love Mexico... Big Hive offsite. Yeah, it was great. Ooh.

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Um, yeah, had kids, and, uh, we moved to Raleigh randomly, and then we moved here. So let's, uh, bring it in for a landing. I know, I know you gotta jump- Well-...

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so, like, how do you wanna, how do you wanna round this out? No, I'm just, I'm just curious. Yeah, I'm just curious.

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If you had to tell your kids, and let's just, let's just imagine they're, you know, they're 10 to 15 years old, 'cause they're young right now- Yeah... so they wouldn't really be able to comprehend.

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But you had to tell your kids one thing about your childhood that you want them to learn from and not experience themselves, what would you tell them?

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Yeah, I think about this a lot because of the, the crash that I was in, and my wife talking, talked about this a lot, like, what will we be like, 'cause I know that they'll probably drink.

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A lot of people are going NA now, so maybe not. Who knows? But- It's a long time, man. I mean- It's a... I know... alcohol, alcohol even is getting, like, there's, like, the surgeon general is like, "Oh, it's, it's...

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We're, like, gonna start telling people it causes cancer on every bottle." I'm, like, I, I don't know if they're actually gonna start doing that, but that's, like, a thing. Who knows? Yeah. 15 years from now- Yeah...

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is a long stinking time. So who knows? Anyways. Long time. Sure. Yeah, long time. So my whole thing is, like, I want to...

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It's less of what I would tell them and more of how I want them to see me and my wife, where it's like you can literally tell us anything, and I wanna make sure that, like, their safety comes before anything else. Yes.

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So yeah, like, I, if you party, okay. I get, like, you might party. But at the end of the day, like, if you feel uncomfortable being around people, like, let me know. I don't care if it's 2:00 AM. I'll come snag you.

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I don't care. Um, so I think it's that and just be nice, man. I'm a, I'm a real big person on, like, just being nice to others. And, uh- Yeah... yeah, just those are, like, the two things that immediately come to mind.

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I'm sure there's deeper things I could think about, but that's what I'm thinking about right now. Yeah. I went to a parenting class, um, with our church. I don't know. This was, like, a few months ago.

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And one of the things they said they want to always communicate to their kids, and their kids, th- this was the, the people teaching this class, their kids are, like, in college now. So it was like- Yeah...

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"Hey, we've been doing this for 20 years, and this is what we want you to do with your kids if you wanna, you know, follow our advice," is thank you for telling me, first words that come out of your mouth every time they tell you anything, especially early on when those habits and even s- like stigmas are forming in their brain about how do my parents respond when I tell them something scary or uncomfortable or embarrassing.

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Mm. Yeah. Thank you for telling me. And so just implementing, I mean, that's my takeaway, uh- I love that... with something you mentioned just now is, like, it could be the most shocking, crazy thing, like, "Hey,

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I got in a car crash from drunk driving." Yeah. "I just did, you know, some hard drugs, and I'm tripping hard right now." Um, you know, like,

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we, we want to create an environment where my kids are, they know they can tell me anything. Yeah. And that's hard. That's hard- Yeah, it's hard...

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because even right now, the spilled milk conundrum of like, like, dang it, like, don't spill- Yeah... the milk. Just pick it up- Yeah... in both hands. But, like, that, even that goes against- Yeah...

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the thank you for telling me environment- Yeah... that we're trying to create. So- Yeah, I love that... Troy, I appreciate you sharing about your life. I know we, there's- S-...

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so many epics and, and seasons and chapters we didn't even get to cover, but I think that's a- Oh, I know... that's quite the story, man. It's an overview. That's quite the story.

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If whoever listens to this and wants to know more about me, you, you know pretty much more about me than most people do. I keep it, uh, I keep it close to the heart. So- Yeah... you're next, dude. You're next.

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But I know you gotta jump. We'll, we'll, we'll be there. I wanna be respectful of your time. So everyone, go to Todadsintech.com. Thanks, Troy. Check us out. Subscribe on YouTube, five stars on Apple and Spotify.

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It means a ton. Um, we're starting to, like Daniel said in the beginning, we're starting to grow a lot on YouTube- Yeah... from the shorts perspective, and we wanna make sure that happens on the long form, too.

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So- We know- Yeah, we'll s-... if we create enough content, it will, it will happen, and I think we're finally starting to see. Like, there's a snowball effect happening right now. Yeah, there is. There is.

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Now it's, I don't know, 1,000 pieces of content created in the last almost entire year. Yeah. It'll, it'll happen. 2026 is a big year for us. So- It is... see you next time, Troy. Yep. See you next week. Peace.