Made de si oh pace sunny sun on idionn Okay, all right, all
right, everybody, everybody calm down. It's Monday, you too, calm
down. Kaylin and I just went like us. I had to get in
the middle. I gotta take my earrings out. I was almost putting a
headlocked by Stephanie. How dare you? That's the most I've seen Stephanie move
by. Now we'll get to that. Hey, what's that? Let us
let's say hello to our super fabulous people before we get into all the things
we got to get into. Okay, uh Stephanie, stinker wrinker and Christa
you make us want to stroop. And Sandra it's not easy being green,
but you do it. It looks good on you. Jennifer needs to get
up. Aaron needs to stop being such a dirty Sanchez. Anybody need to
Our show is just going to be like what is happening? Sarah's the fun
out. Lastly, the reason you're coughing is because you're it's contagious. I
just gave it to you. I have a cold, right you guys?
Yeah, I do great. I don't let that stop me though, now
Like I'm still just friend those germs to me and kay exactly exactly. Listen.
I thought about it, and I was like, oh, Caylen has
come in when he's like hacking up along because you know why. He's like,
I'm going to be this way for the next four months. Go with
it, right, and I'm going to tell you why I still have this
cold in a few minutes. It's adrenaline. Had the cold for over a
week, but the adrenaline was stopping me from feeling it for the first time.
Three days of it interesting. I'm fine. I don't think this is
anything. This is allergies. And it kicks in Alicjescalante in the city of
Almonte. Kelly Brant, She's yes, she is. Oh yeah, She'll
give you a mentos. That just reminded me of a story. I'll get
to it, Okay, rebec on no partition kilt, just badass Missy and
Gabby guy. They're cleaning up after stagecoach this weekend. Can't wait to hear
about waved to goodbye to them last night and I left the town. Katerina
needs to check her molar. Valerie hits it out of the park. Polly,
we love your pancakes. Athena, We love your makeup, your lipstick,
and your dancing. Elizabeth Williamson. We love all of your kids except
for one, you know which one. Rita has a face of a Bassett
hound in the best way, though. I think basket hounds are adorbs.
Jacob, you're so growley like a Baskett hound. That's mad, Leslie,
stop accosting people, Nikki, Oh your girl Aaron? Who does not?
Anna? Faris? Katie's rolling on e she was at stage coach, Yes
she was. Amy's a really nice person. Kelly Ooh, Laddie Dah Ashley,
you're so Sheikh Rachel's not a newcomer anymore, Oldheimer and Meg Malloy Oh
Maloy nice? Well, Oh, nothing much to report here, No,
and nothing much to report? All right, here's what happened, Yeah,
what happened. Everybody was waiting so crazy. As you know, I have
been completely obsessed ever since these stupid fucking UC decisions started coming out. We
all remember, and this has only been like a couple of weeks since Lbe
found out that she was waitlisted at cal Poly slow right. Thus beginning slowed
her roll, slowed her role, thus began some real tension because remember I
told you she was, she started crying. I knew she'd been in a
bad mood. Remember, I went in her room and I was like,
something's up with her. She wasn't seemingly making plans to go see San Diego
State, which I was super jazzed about. And then she told me I
found out I got waitlisted at cal Poly Slow and she was like, this
just doesn't bode well. And I was like, all right, everybody,
let's not get crazy. You did get into San Diego State, this is
very good news. Then she but she was like, then I went to
that book fair and she found out that she got into Irvine. Oh okay,
okay. Then I made her go to Target with me to get some
stuff to get ready for my book festival, and then she got into a
better mood and she was like, Okay, I'm going to try to be
positive and I am going to make plans to go to see San Diego State.
And I was like, okay, cool. Then she got into Irvine.
Then she promptly did not make plans to go see San Diego State,
nor did she make plans to go to Anteater Day, which is what they
call Irvine Kids. So then I was on this roll. It's been a
roller coaster. Yes, But then Robin was like, you know, cal
Poly Slow is actually harder to get into than any of the UC's or I
found that out, and I was like, I'm not going to tell Elb
because it's going to create more of a roller coaster. Then she got into
Irvine, and then she was more excited. Then she got into Berkeley,
and that was like, holy shit, we were all so happy. I
know, everybody was in tears. But and there is a butt. I
was so excited and jazzed about Berkeley that I was blinded to the fact that,
like, although Elby was really happy about Berkeley, she had her sight
set on UCLA. Right now, I know that these are total first world
problems. If you think I don't fucking know that, I know that,
Like I'm not stupid. I know that, Like, oh my god,
my daughter got into Berkeley and Irvine. She had we were lousy with good
choices, yeah, you know, yeah, nothing to complain about, right,
But when your kid is like it's had a thing that they wanted since
they were young and worked hard and worked hard. She had and remember,
please remember, I don't know why I'm begging you to remember everybody remember that.
She also when she started going to community college, she also found out
that she couldn't do this TAP program, the Transfer Alliance program, because it
had turned out she wasn't taking honors classes, and she had done so much
footwork to figure out how to do the honors She had to get accepted into
the honors program. She had to choose her classes for the honors program right
then. Oh, by the way, these classes that you're registered for that
you thought were honors classes are not honors classes. A lot of hurdles she
had to jump through, and she but she was like diligent and getting her
stuff done like that what she needed to do, even though she was taught
told wrong information a lot throughout the way exactly so then she had to keep
telling herself like okay, and as a mom, as a mom, I
don't know if you guys know that we're parents on the show, I felt
like, I'm this is going to be a real shock to both of you
guys. I'm an obsessive person. What I know, it's crazy. I
get, like, you know, my brain just starts going okay, all
right. She didn't wasn't able to do the TAP program how does that really
hurt her chances? And then she told me that the counselor was like,
listen, I know you didn't tap and that's disappointing, but your application still
looks good. Then my brain goes, is she just blowing smoke up her
offs? So she's trying to keep her spirits up? Is is that really
true? And then I'm looking at REDIT and I'm looking at anyway. The
Irvine News was very uplifting because it was like, Okay, that's a hard
school to get into. Then the Berkeley was like, holy shit, she
got into Berkeley. Well that's what made me feel hopeful. But it turned
out that she was so nervous about this UCLA decision. So we thought the
decision was happening last Wednesday. So you and I recorded on Monday. M
hmm. The show came out on Tuesday. I told everybody, by tomorrow,
I'm going to know if she's into UCLA. Wednesday morning we woke up.
I was so nervous for her all day. This is how it was
going to go down. She said, if I get into UCLA, I'm
going to Ucla. Ya. If I don't get into Ucla, I'm going
to decide between. At this point, she'd gotten into Santa Barbara, so
she was like, I'm going to decide between Santa Barbara and Berkeley, Right,
I'm going to weigh my options because I like the vibe at Santa Barbara,
right, but like Berkeley. Shit at Berkeley. Yeah, So that's
where our heads were at Wednesday all day. We're nervous. So we decide
that we're going to try to recreate the circumstances that led superstitiously to her acceptance
at Berkeley. So we went back to the mall because we've gone to the
mall that day. Let's just not change anything. Let's just do the exact
same thing we did. So we did it at the same time, like
we really just tried to recreate and we were laughing about it. But she
was like, Mom, I'm like sick with nerves about I'm sick. And
I was like, me too, maybe me more than you. Then she
was like, mom, it's not a competition. You're not the one getting
into college. And I was like, how dare you shut up? Okay,
we go home three o'clock, rolls around nothing. So then everybody's like,
Okay, I think it comes out everybody on Reddit. You have to
understand that. I'm yeah, you're folks. We're freshing Reddit, Reddit,
slash our, slash transfer students. They're all focused on UCLA. Five o'clock
happens, that's what time it's supposed to come out. Nothing. All of
a sudden, people are like, holy shit, it's coming out. It's
not coming out till Friday. And we were like, are you kidding me?
If you did all that? Somebody found out there was like a Ucla
Instagram page. It was like decisions are going to be out on Friday.
So we're like, oh no, we're starting this all over again. So
that night, go to sleep. Next day, we just don't really talk
about it that much. On Thursday, Friday morning, we wake up,
We're like, time to go to them all. But then, you know
what, we were like, well, I don't know that whole mall thing.
Maybe that what didn't even work? You know, we should we should
change it up, but do something positive. So we both went and got
our We got went and got our haircut. Oh that's nice. We're like,
we're gonna totally like distract ourselves haircut. Anyway. We we do like
different things, but we still try to keep it in the mode of like
going out together, doing something, keeping our mind off of it. Right,
Okay, then we did. We made sure we didn't get home until
like three thirty. Then I don't remember what happened for like the next hour.
Then it was basically at four thirty, I was like, it's countdown.
So then at like four fifty nine, I come out. We go,
We stand at the kitchen table. She's like, Mom, I am
I'm shaking. I'm like so scared. I'm so nervous. I was like
my heart was beating like a freakin' hamster. Yeah, where I can barely
breathe. Then she goes, oh my god, I'm too scared to look.
It hit five o'clock. She so she refreshes Reddit. She's like,
I'm not going to look until Reddit says the decisions are in. She refreshes
the page. Somebody goes, They're in. I'm in. I was like,
I felt like I was at the highest altitude. Like I was like,
oh my god, I can't breathe. I can't breathe. So her
best friend, who Bella Julie's daughter, who goes there, was like,
I want you to record your reaction. Yes, smart so but then Elbie
was like, oh my god, I hope this doesn't jinx it, you
know, I know. But she's like, Okay, fuck it, I
don't care. I'm going to record my reaction for better or for worse,
you know, just in case. So she sets up her phone facing her
so she I'm standing behind her. So she looks at it. I see
that, you see it. I congratulations. But it took she said.
It took her a second because she was looking at the body of the email
and it said congratulations are on the top right. Apparently on the other one
ones you open you have to go it. When you open it up to
your portal, it says scroll down click here to see the decision. But
on UCLA's as soon as you put in your information and hit refresh, it
tells you. So she was so scared because she was looking. Yeah,
so she didn't so she hits things. So she sees it and that was
it. That was like, I know, I swear to god, it
was like the best moment of my life. I now was so happy.
Yes, she was like, and so for those of you who don't know
or aren't on the social media, she recorded herself and she lost her mind
and I lost my mind. You guys were both screaming and jumping up and
down and hugging. It was a year coming. Yes, she's the first.
One of the first colleges she toured was UCLA with John when she was
a junior, and she was like, I mean, this is this is
it? Like it's a beautiful campus. But she didn't think she could get
in. So when we saw Santa Barbara, she was like, I think
I have a very reasonable chance of getting into Santa Barbara. So she had
her hopes on Santa Barbara. But I remember after she loved Santa Barbara,
going, so is that your number one now? And she goes, no,
I mean Ucla is still number one, but Santa Barbara's number two.
Berkeley was number three then and so on down the line. So Berkeley,
Ucla, and Santa Barbara had always been her top three. But then even
this transfer around because she didn't tap, she was not holding out the highest
hopes for it. When she got into Berkeley, she said, her hopes
started to go up for Ucla. But a lot of kids don't get into
UCLA and Berkeley. They get into one or the other. So she was
also trying to temper her expectations because she'd gotten into Berkeley. Well, guess
what turns out? She found out the night before she got the financial offer
from Berkeley, and when she read the offer, it said for spring of
twenty twenty five, and she was like, wait what. She went back
and read her congratulations letter. She was accepted for spring of twenty twenty five.
Oh, which would have meant she wouldn't be starting school for eight months.
So she didn't say anything. She didn't tell me because she was so
like, kind of upset about it, but also like, Okay, none
of this is going to matter if I get into UCLA. Let me just
see what happens. And she told herself, if I don't get into UCLA,
I'll probably go to Santa Barbara. Right, So she got into UCLA.
We were screaming with excitement, everybody. We were so happy. And
then she was like, that's it. I'm going to UCLA and we accepted
the offer. Nice not nice paid the money nice for the accepting the offer.
It's like two hundred and fifty dollars, best two hundred and fifty dollars
I'd ever worn. Everybody she has been a different kid. I bet I
have my old daughter back. Yeah, I lost her for an entire year.
Yeah, Oh my god. I've seen glimpses of her and sometimes she's
happy. But I don't know. I think I told you maybe on a
Patreon. I don't know. But I had a talk with her. Yeah,
And she told me, I'm just I'm just trying to distract myself.
I just go from the thing. I'm trying to like work as much as
possible. But I'm sad all the time, she told me. And now,
and I understand it's not just getting into UCLA. It's not that simple,
obviously, but it's that it's settled now. Yes, she got into
UCLA, which makes her feel so so happy, but also it's just like
all of this drama from the time that she found out that she got into
not one you see that she wanted to go to to having to go to
Peers, to getting broken up with to all of this and then having to
motivate herself to reapply. Got her an essay coach, you know what I
mean. She had to go through all of it again, then to get
the applications in, and then to be waiting from the end of November.
Oh god, now to know what she's doing with herself. It's all been
so hard. Yeah, so now she's like I love it. It's like
she wants to hang out again. Yeah, she's like it's like my old
daughter. Yeah, that's so nice. That's crazy. Now, Like I
wonder if is this because like, so she got it so obviously when she
works hard, her efforts pay off. But is it because of the first
time around the college counselor told her about. It's so many things. Number
one, Number one, she had amazing grades. She had an insane rigor
to her schedule. The reason that she didn't get in is because she applied
with psychology. That's what I'm wondering. So if she's for the reason,
if she had applied, she reapplied under sociology, she still had to get
great grades. The transfer rates are higher than the rates for getting in right
after high school. Right, So, but I do think she I don't
think she would have gotten into UCLA even if she applied under sociology. Maybe
she might have. I think she would have for sure gotten into Santa Barbara.
Yeah, but the that's that such a bummer, Like, what the
fuck with these college counselors. Oh my god, John sent an email to
her old college counsel Good. Really do you want me to read it to
you? Yeah, it's pretty funny. Okay, good, because it's ridiculous
this John told me, Oh, we should do it. We should talk
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so here's the email that yeah, genre literally that night I think he just
couldn't help himself. Which night, the night she got into, the night
she got into UCLA. Okay, John emailed this college counselor we paid big
money to. I won't say her name obviously. I hope this finds you
well. Realizing that everyone's knowledge and information based perpetually evolves. I'm relaying an
update which I hope might be helpful if you have future clients applying to UC's
in California. Last year, as you know, as an applicant to the
UC's as a psych major, which we confirmed was one of the most impacted,
our daughter LB ended up going one for six on UC acceptances. She
then opted to bypass UC Santa Cruz in favor of doing a year at community
college and reapplying this year, applying as a sociology major, which we learned
was less impacted. She was fortunate to go five for five on the UC's
including acceptance to Berkeley and UCLA. She's very excited and has committed to the
latter. It definitely seems that steering away from the most impacted handful of majors
makes a crucial difference and gaining admission. Hope this helps looking to the future.
Good, here you go. Uh yeah, and then she wrote back,
keep in mind last year, this is what these counselors do. They
start asking you because they want to brag to their new clients, where did
your kid get in? Uh huh? She kept sending us that email and
I finally wrote her back and I was like, she didn't fucking get in
anywhere. She got it, you know, she got denied everywhere but Santa
Cruz and it's because she applied for psychology, to which she wrote back,
Oh, that's not true at all. I just went to a conference about
May and they said that the only U see that cares about majors is Irvine.
And in my mind, I'm like, well, that's one hundred percent
not true. But I'm not going to fight with this bitch, you know
whatever. So she wrote back to John, Hello, John, thank you
so much for the update and a confirmation about impacted majors. The UC's puts
on a conference every September for counselors, and at last September's conference, impacted
majors was a hot topic and one that doesn't play such a role at other
public institutions. I'm so glad LB is now moving on to UCLA, and
I thank you for your feedback. So basically what she's saying is, yeah,
it turns out that it does play a role at the UC's but not
at other schools. That I know a lot about. So listen, yeah,
two people are at fault here. We shouldn't have used this counselor because
LB from the beginning knew she was applying to the UC's And this woman works
at like a small school in Vermont. She works at like a high school
in Vermont where she basically coaches people to apply for small liberal arts schools.
But and she kept pushing lbe, oh, you should really look at like
some small liberal arts schools, and I'll be kept saying like I want to
go to a big university and I want to go to school in California,
and she was like she did. She wasn't helpful for that. We would
have been much better off just hiring an essay coach and figuring it out ourselves
because that's what they need. They needs. And when I say essay coach,
I'm not talking about somebody who, just to be clear to everybody,
a good essay coach helps them figure out what to write about, helps them
maybe structure it, like, helps them know because especially for the UCS,
there's these like nine points that they have to answer, right, It's really
specific for a lot of schools. So a good essay coach can help them.
Like a lot of a lot of kids only have to write one for
the common app which goes to a lot of different schools, and then sometimes
they'll be extra. They'll have like an extra one, but sometimes you can
reuse them. Yeah you know. Yeah, you've read your kid's essays.
Yeah, there's there are things involved in writing a good essay, and colleges
look for certain things, and a good essay coach knows what the colleges are
looking for. So when you write your essay, you send it to your
coach and they can say, oh, I think you should focus more on
this and less on this. So Elbie had an essay coach. She was
also able to bring it into her community college office transfer office and they had
counselors that were able to look at it and good, that's good knowing what
the ucs are looking for. So she got feedback that's good. I was
very hands off on this one. Yeah that's good. But I know that
John read her essays and was like these are good, like these are really
good. He felt good about it. That's all we really needed to pay
for. Yeah, well, you know, she worked so hard and she
got knocked down and knockdown and knocked down, and she kept getting up and
you know, she did what she had to do and it paid off.
Hard work paid off and that's all accounts. I know. I'm just so
mad that, you know, it's not like it's not like we paid.
Look, did I have somebody go sit and take the essats for her,
like you know Becky or Felicity Huffman. No, but even just paying I
think it cost us. You know, this was when she was a junior,
Like whatever it cost us, like thirty eight hundred dollars for that right
private counselor, which you know we paid. I paid sixty dollars an hour
for the essay coach. You know, we paid in total like one hundred
and twenty dollars. See, and that's all she really needed. Wow.
I mean, now you know, for your ex kids, I mean,
you're not psyched about your college counselor either. No. No, he was
just like schmaltzy like with his writing. And also he would like give dates
wrong and when things were due, and Natalia was like are you sure about
that date? Like she was constantly like on top of him, and he
was the one who was like, hmm, I'm traveling, so I have
to reschedule. Okay, when can you reschedule? Well, let me get
back to you. And then Natalia would like where Sonny would text him and
be like, h are you available on Tuesday? Oh you know, sorry
I didn't get back to you. No, I can't on Tuesday. I'll
get back to you in a couple of days, like that kind of stuff,
like that's what he was doing, you know, what the hell?
And like steering Sonny wrong with the University of Oregon and just yeah, just
like wrong and I don't know, like wrong information. Luckily, we didn't
pay an arm and a leg like we paid. I was like, okay,
you know, I'm not going to spend a ton of money on a
college counsel for these two. So it was about the same as what you
paid. But you know, plus we got like ten percent discount for twins.
But yeah, I mean so yeah, they just it's tough. But
you don't know, like when you have your first kid and that's going off
to college, you don't know. I don't know, do I know that?
Ask people or read on the internet what's best, But like my friends
all hired college counselors. Yeah, it's like, although I am super lazy
and love a shortcut and love to just hey, who's your pediatrician? Okay,
that sounds good. Then you researched. Great now I don't have to.
I've always been like that, but with this it was hard because everybody's
kind of doing their own thing, and they all have a college counselor.
So you do feel like I'm putting my kid at a disadvantage because I didn't
even go to college. John hasn't hasn't gone to college, you know,
in whatever. However many years, like thirty years, twenty years, So
what the fuck do we know? You don't know how it works. Now.
All I know is like, oh, it's so competitive. And we're
in California and she wants to go to a you see, and apparently it's
really competitive. We didn't know what we were talking about. I didn't know
anything about the common app and so although I was kind of hands off at
the beginning, because she would have a meeting with her counselor, and her
counselor would be like, let's I want you to make a list of things
that you want about a school, like and LB would be like a big
school, a fun school, you know, and then she'd go like,
Okay, why don't you go look at some small schools, and LB would
be like, Okay, I don't want to. So kind of early on,
I took over in the way of like John took her to see Berkeley.
I took her to see Santa Barbara. In retrospect, I wouldn't have
taken her anywhere until she got in. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but
I didn't know anything. The only thing that she told us that was like
a value was oh, don't apply to like University of Wisconsin because they don't
offer any financial aid. But like, other than that that she offered us
nothing of help. Yeah. All the information I got was from like other
people's college counselors, which which was like, for one thing, here's some
information, and I told you this a long time ago, But our college
counselor didn't tell us. Don't submit your scores, your SAT scores unless they
help your grade point average. If you're if you if you had an SAT
score that's like in the fourteen hundreds and your GPA is like three point five,
to submit your scores. If you have a g SAT that's like twelve
ninety, but your GPA is four point zero. Do not submit those scores.
It hurts you, you know, stuff like that. Yeah, you
told me that I remember, and that was good. That was a good
That was good advice. Yeah. But like other than that, this bullshit,
I know screwed my kid. And but the main thing was that this
bitch did not know that the all ucs have impacted majors. It's such such
known information that I didn't know. That's why you pay somebody money. They're
supposed to say, Oh girl, your grades are good, but not that
good. Don't apply with psychology. You have to have like insanely good grades,
not only the best GPA, but like really good extracurriculars, like just
having a job and and good rigor is not going to cut it for psychology.
Yeah, yeah, you want to, You really want to go to
UCLA apply to something like gender studies or some more niche major. Yeah,
listen, all's well that ends. Well, she got to do community college
for only one year. Yeah, and now she's the happiest kid. And
now we don't have to pay for two years of college. Yeah that's nice
too. Our community college in California is free. Yeah that's nice, And
and it'll be free for an Italia to Now you have something called the Promise
Program. It makes it free. Yeah, just have to make sure she
applies to it, right right. Yeah, see that's the thing, like,
well she's got this counsel now for all of that stuff for there,
you know, for Santa Barbara. So but there's just like a a thing
that they have to separately apply for the Promise Program. It's nothing that special,
but it just means they have to be full time enough enough credits to
be a full time count as a full time college student. Yeah, and
it's free, but it's like a separate it's another whole thing with like a
deadline and a separate application. It's not due anytime soon that I'm just saying,
Yeah, all right, all's well that ends. Well, yeah,
that's great. So you went to stagecoach, ah, god, yes,
tell me everything. Well, I mean, like you know, I didn't
want it. I wasn't prepared to go. So last week when I was
hello, yes, tell us a last week when I was sitting house a
crisis. Yeah, I was telling you I didn't have a place. I
had a house lined up and they decided not to rent it to put it
back on the market to sell, and our house is escrow is done on
May fifteenth, which means we have to be out of the house on May
fifteenth, which is in like two weeks. That's crazy. Yeah, so
no house to move in do so yeah, as of last week, I
sat here and I was panicking. When I went home, I got a
text from my realtor and he said, this new house just came up on
the market for rent, and it was in my budget. It's in our
neighborhood. It's like right up the street. It's what everything you need in
your house, you know, right around bedrooms, three bedrooms, bathroom and
in bathroom and every room, which was nice, oh nice. Yeah.
At first, for one second I was like, oh, it has a
bathroom, has one bathroom, he's got it's got three bathroom three and a
half. Like it's got three full bathrooms in each room and then like a
powder room. I love it. Yes, that's a lot of perfects.
Yes. And an office yes, and three three bedrooms and an office like
a small office. Oh nice. Yeah. So I was like, hell,
yeah, let's go look at it. So I went that day that
it got on the market. The guy was showing us the house as a
realtor. But his daughter owns the house. She's married and had boy girl
twins, and she spent like two years upgrading this house, remodeling it,
like put like setting it up the way she wanted it. So like one
side of the house is the is the primary bedroom for her, like away
from the kids bedrooms on the other side of the house, you know,
just like little thing and then open kitchen and ceilings and nice, yeah,
really nice. And no pool but that's all right. So so his daughter,
but now it's daughter, he's got it. I know he's gonna miss
being in the pool, but I'm gonna get him a kiddie pool and fill
it up with water. I love that idea because I get videos of him
at his place where he's hanging out at and she's like, you know,
it's it's fun time in the pool. And she's got like a couple of
kiddie pools and all the dogs are just kind of like, you know,
stepping in it and like, you know, frolicking. So I'm gonna get
him that. That's all he needs. But it's got grass, it's got
an enclosed backyard. So so I went and looked at it and she her
daughter. The daughter was going to move into it for her, but she's
got toddlers, twin toddlers, and she's overwhelmed her in her husband and they're
fine where they're at. So he's like, they were like, let's just
rent the house for like a year or two, which was perfect for me.
So I'm like, okay, I love it. Like what do we
do? It just came on the market, and my realtor was like,
you're like, I gotta lock it down. I want to lock it down.
And my realtor was like showing me comps of other rentals in the neighborhood
which were a little cheaper. You know. I was fine playing the price
that they're asking, but he's like they should, you know, for houses
that are with a pool are going for like the same price than this house
that doesn't have, like it should be a little less. And he was
like trying to negotiate, and I was like, no, no, no,
don't negotiate, Like just just tell him we'll take the house. So
he's like okay, yeah, okay, I get it. So we locked
it down and I'm going today to go get the keys and get the house
and then we can start moving in like this week, started to taking stuff
over and then I have, so it's totally empty right now, it's totally
empty, and it's like land spanking new. Nobody lived in it since they
remained, Like the bathrooms are brand new, showers are brand new, like
wow, paint brand new, like it's just everything is brand new. Yeah.
Yeah, so so you saw it alone. Then Sonny met me there
and he saw it and he liked it. And then Natalia couldn't because she
was at work, so she's like, take video and send it to me.
So I sent her video. Told her there's no pool and she's like,
I don't care. And the funny thing is the two bedrooms are a
little different, and Sonny likes the one he picked. He was there,
He's like, I want this bedroom, and I'm like, I think that's
how he's gonna want the other one anyway, and I showed her both and
she was like, yeah, I don't want his room, I want the
other room. So that was good and she's like, yeah, get get
it like I like it. She liked it good. Yeah, so so
thank god for that, Like we got we got the house, so that
was good. And then I have to leave like to go to Santa to
Palm Springs for stagecoach and I'll tell you about that. Yeah, let's take
a break and i'll tell you about that. This message is sponsored by Greenlight
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I go into the weekend of this freakin stage coach weekend, and how many
nights you left? On Friday? I left, Yes, So the girls
left Friday afternoon after school and they got there. They left on their own.
Yeah, they drove up there, and it's we got an airbnb and
it was big enough for it slept ten people. Oh and there was seven
girls total, including Italia. And I didn't want to drive my tesla.
First of all, I didn't want to look for a charging station. Second
of all, I can only fit five people in my tesla. So I
decided to rent an suv for the weekend, and Olga like drove me to
the airport to pick up the suv and drop me off. So that was
good. So by the time I did all that on Friday, I was
like, I was doing other things like at the house and stuff. So
I wanted to leave after traffic died down, so I drove up like I
got I drove left at like six and got there like nine, right,
So Natalia was keeping in touch with me the whole time, and and she's
like, you know, we're we're there, We're here now, we're going
to go to the concert and whatever. So they went to the concert,
and so you drove up with Melissa. No, so I drove up by
myself the first night. So I got there on Friday night, then Melissa
came Saturday on in the afternoon. You drove up and then you went straight
to the Airbnb and just hung out until they got back and now and then
I picked them up from their shuttle. So they had shuttle passes this year,
which worked out great, so I'll it dropped them off at like the
Ramata Inn, which was four miles from the airbnb. I would go pick
them up. The concert got out at like eleven eleven thirty. Wasn't like
all night long, which was nice. The first night they got out like
ten thirty and I picked them up at eleven and they were home by eleven.
Yeah, it was nicely, they weren't like walking around and seeing people
from the Bachelor and no, the first well, they were They've been there
in the app since the afternoon, like they were there like I don't know
they oh, like Sin's five or something like that. Okay, so that's
you know, they were tired, so and it was the first night too,
so they yeah, they got home kind of early. So then then
Melissa came, drove up and she spent the night with me Saturday night and
we went out. So Gina Kimmel lives out there and me, Melissa and
Gina used to hang out all the time, like really close, very close,
and then you know, Gina moved away out of state and blah blah
blah, and then they have those two haven't really talked in a while.
And so Melissa was like, I want to come out. You're gonna see
Gina. Like I want to come out. She's like, I deserve a
weekend to get away, you know, sal owes me. So she's like,
I'm going to come up on Saturday and I'll spend Saturday night and then
I'll spend all day Sunday and well I'll just drive home Sunday night, like
at six o'clock because I'm staying till Monday at this point. So she comes
out and we meet Gina because Gina's living out there. She's renting a house,
you know, for a few months. So we go out to dinner
and we had a great time, like just like old times. And then
we went to some like like Lakina Hotel bar afterwards because all the other like
places, every place was crowded with a line out the door because it's stagecoach
so and there's traffic and like you know, all streets are blocked off.
You don't want to go that way. You want to go away from the
concert. So we went out that night. So that night I didn't pick
up the girls. They took an uber back from the drop off of the
shuttle. And then the next day we went out to dinner. We went
out to breakfast, met Gina for breakfast, and then Gina decides to like
want me to retire in this over over fifty five and over gated community where
she's living. She wants me to like, let at you can retire.
Look. So we get in her golf cart after breakfast and she's driving us.
So we're looking at model homes. Like I haven't looked at a model
home since I was like a kid. I forgot what it like. It
was just I remember going looking at model homes. We were moving to California,
and she's like, so you can start, and they they're really cheap
out here, you know. They're like like start at six hundred grand and
you can get a big, you know house for that much and blah blah
blah, and it's a gated community. And she's like, every day is
like being on a on a every day is like being on a cruise.
Like I get these letters in my mailbox, like here's our activities for the
week. You know, we're playing Marshan or we're playing El Bingo and we're
playing a you know, we're going horseback riding or singles night, you know.
And I'm like, I'm like humoring her. Melissa and I are looking
at each other, like Melissa's like, you're not old, Like she is
like, you're not gonna What are you gonna do is just move out here
to die, like and the kids are just gonna come and visit you every
now and then. Like was like her boyfriend younger too, Yes, And
she is not old. Gina's only like I don't know, she's like fifty
six or something like that. Like she's not that old, but she wants
to. She loves the old because she loves to sew. Oh, she
loves bingo. She likes doing old folks thing. She likes getting in her
golf her golf cart and like having golf cart races with all the old ladies
because a lie, it sounds kind of fun. I'm like, I also,
I too like bingo. I know, well, like horseback riding.
I will tell you I would be bored pretty quickly, but like you know,
i'd be and you know, I'm sure there'd be comedy night where they
just bring in someone. Yeah yeah, and like listen it does. It
did sound appealing because when she was taking me around then she took us to
the like the clubhouse with the pool and stuff, and there's a gym and
you know, and there's a rest of ladies wearing bathing suits with a skirt
yes, and like the little flowery plastic cat. Yeah, shower cat down.
Yes. So like she's showing me all this, and there're a target
nearby. If there's a target nearby, yeah done. Yeah, there's tar
and there's casinos and she's like, and you know, you get out of
LA, but LA comes to you because like Ray Romano's playing at the casine,
like all these are playing at casinos, so you're not missing the La
life. Its coming to you. Oh my god. I remember a few
years ago seeing that Rio Speedwagon was playing like spring Yes. It's like I'm
okay, yeah, I'm in. Yeah, I'm in, And how do
I get started? Right? I know? That's so I was by the
end of the tour, I was like, you know what, this kind
of does sound pretty nice. It's like even Melissa, she's like, you
know, it's not that bad this podcast. We could do the podcast live
from the fifty five and over community. Yeah, oh my god. People
have been wondering like what's the future of this podcast, and there you go.
It's it's a fifty five and over. Yeah we can have community.
Yeah, we can have all the guests from the community come on. It's
active light, like you're not alone. Like there's a lifestyle. It is
an active lifestyle. There's things to do. It's a community. Everybody looks
out for each other. It's like everybody knows each other. It's just there's
activities. Oh and they plan vacations four times a year, so like they're
going to Africa on a tour this year. So if you want to join
you just join. You know what I like about that? Again, somebody
who's more of a plannering like they're like, all right, we're going to
plan this whole thing. This is the Safari And then all you have to
do is probably sign up. That's it. Yes, sign up, pay
her dues, that's it. And you're off. You're off, and you're
going with your neighbors and you're having a grand time. Yeah, and you
bond with them, and then you come home and you're still living around them.
So the problem is, you know, there's gonna be some people in
the fifty five and over community that we don't like that much. So like
then what then, well, that's okay for them to die, Yes,
because yeah, they're their days are counting, you know, like, oh
my god, that's amazing. Yeah. She opened up one of the rooms
and she goes like, this is like a game room and there's a bunch
of ladies in there playing cards and they're like, hey, Gina, like,
hey, gens, these are my friends. I'm trying to get them
to move out here for to retire. And they're like, come, they
looked young. They didn't look old. They looked pretty young. Yeah,
and they were like, come on, it's a great it's a great life.
You guys should move out here. And then they're like, well,
you better get grab one of the houses because there's only ten left. And
then when we left, Gina's like, yeah, but don't worry because people,
you know, kick off. One of our listeners. Her name is
Jenny Woods. She took my writing class before. She's super fucking funny and
and hilarious and smart, and she I remember when she first started taking the
class, was living in a fifty five and over retirement community, which I
was like, you need to write stories about this. I need to hear
about life here. Because she was young, right, like I guess probably
just hit the cutoff. She was probably like just fifty five, yeah,
but she was like young and fun and funny, and you know, would
write these funny stories about like the exercise classes and how fun it was to
be like the most kind of like hip and fit one in exercise class as
opposed to in la like wanting to be in the back of the room,
right, you know, right, you're like out of breath, but at
this one, she's like the hot one. Yeah. That's why Gina loves
it because she's like up front near the instructor, like by the mirrors,
like rat's up. Everybody's like, how that hot you get? I know,
I know, like Gina and Melissa loved it because they're like, we
don't need to be around these skinny bitches in La like going to exercise class,
like because Molissa will be like, I don't want to. I get
intimidated sometimes to go to these classes. I don't want to be around these
like hot young Instagram models, right, you know here you are. You
are the hot hot you model. You just post a story once in a
while and they're like, oh my god, she's an influencer right in the
community. Yeah I love that. Yeah yeah, so maybe I'll be moving
soon. Okay. But so Gina doesn't live there already. She's just rented
this house in this community and she's but she she wanted to rent it to
see if she likes the area, like she commits before she commits, and
she's now she loves it and she's gonna buy in the community. And but
the thing is is she's down. Her boyfriend, Yeah, he's down.
He's one that he's one of those boyfriends that goes along with anything she wants.
So I need one of those. Yeah, he doesn't talk very much.
He's kind of quiet, but so she's not. But they're not gonna
live there full time, like they're gonna be there like, you know,
when it when it's not in the off times of summer, I mean not
summertime, like the off times of you know, during the winter, the
snowbirds, you know kind of thing. So then she'll take her getting her
RV and travel when it's like in the heat of the summer kind of thing.
Okay, I like that. Yeah, So okay, should we hear
about the rest of Stagecoach? Yeah, we could tell you the rest or
do you want to tell me what happened or I'll tell you to it not
much, but I'll tell We can finish it on Friday. But you have
a story for Patreon, right too? Yeah? I do, okay,
and then you'll tell the rest of Stagecoach though on Friday. Yeah. Yeah,
I'm just saying people should sign up for Patreon. Yeah, because you
have a Patreon I do. Yeah, okay, okay, Well before we
go, let's talk about Mike Kirstin. He's a plumber. Mike Kirstine is
a plumber, and he in the Phoenix area. Yes, he's in the
Phoenix area and if you're in that area, he is number one with number
two he can help you. He can also help you over the phone.
One of our FCOL listeners called him and asked for his help and he was
right there on the phone helping her, talking to her off the ledge and
it was really nice. So if you have any plumbing issues, you can
call Mike. You can go to Phoenix Plumbing Solutions dot com and right there
on the site has his cell phone. Everything you need to reach out to
him. You can call him or text him. All the information is right
there at Phoenix Plumbing Solutions dot com. Also, you guys remember Adam Lerner.
He's a car broker. He can help you buy a new car,
Lisa car, buy a used car. If you're anywhere in the car,
he can get the car to you. If he finds you a better deal
somewhere else, he'll ship the car out to you. And he can also
just educate you about buying a car if you're just not sure what you're doing.
So go to Adams gootacar dot com and check him out and tell him
you're from FCOL. Also, Maren has a gift shop and bakery on the
island of Kawaii that's in Hawaii. It's called Sugar Skull. You can check
them out their Instagram page at sugar Skull eight oh eight and get fifteen percent
off if you use the code fcol. Also, if you're planning travel,
why not use Storybook World Travel. That's Christine Black. Go to Facebook or
Instagram and check out storybook World Travel or you can email her at christineb at
storybookworldtravel dot com. And also The Family Skeptical that's a podcast about raising kids
without religion. They did an episode and talked about my book at one point,
so l yeah, check out their last few episodes. They only do
an episode every three weeks, so it's not going to like bog down your
feed, you know. Yeah. And then also, if you're in the
Palm Springs area, did you go to Woman Freedom. We wanted to go
to Wilmanfreedom's but it was like twenty two miles from where I was staying.
Oh okay, yeah, Well they're in Palm Springs Proper or Palm Desert area.
They have the best brunch in town. Checkout Wilma and FREEDA All right,
we'll see you guys on Friday. Thank you Kylin, Thanks your parent.
Now, don't f it up. Letting