Podcasts about todd right

This podcast episode delves into a powerful story of resilience and overcoming mental health challenges. Guest Todd Rennebohm shares his life-changing experience of a 911 call that not only saved his life but also opened up important conversations about mental health and addiction. Throughout the episode, Todd discusses his journey as a mental health advocate, a survivor of suicide attempts, and his recovery from addiction. From being diagnosed with chronic anxiety at a young age to battling alcohol and substance abuse, Todd's story sheds light on the connection between mental health and substance use. Todd emphasizes the importance of self-advocacy and seeking help within the flawed healthcare system. The episode also touches on Todd's book, which tackles the topic of mental health through a child's perspective, aiming to start conversations and normalize discussions surrounding mental health in families. ..................................................................................... Listen to Todd's podcast Bunny Hugs & Mental Health on Apple podcast or Spotify Follow Todd on Instagram @bunnyhugspodcast .................................................................................... RISING STRONG LINKS: Get new episode notifications: bit.ly/risingstrongupdates Follow us on Instagram: @risingstrongpodcast Facebook page - send your reviews and comments via the 'comment' button here: www.facebook.com/risingstrongpodcast WIN SWAG: · Email a screenshot of your 5-star review for a chance to win some Rising Strong swag! Lisa@LisaKBoehm.com Remember to follow and subscribe so you never miss an episode ..................................................................................... TRANSCRIPT: host/Lisa: In today's episode, we unravel the powerful story of a lifechanging 911 call that not only saved a life, but also opened up a conversation about mental health and addiction. Welcome to the Rising Strong podcast. I'm your host, Lisa, and today's guest is going to inspire you in so many ways. Tod and I met almost exactly one year ago at a mental health event where he openly shared his journey from the stage. He's a mental health advocate, suicide attempt, survivor in recovery from addiction, speaker, author and host of Bunny hugs and mental health. Welcome to the show, Todd. Todd Thank you. It's lovely to see you again. And at that exact same event a year ago this year, you were speaking at it. And so that was very exciting. Lisa: Right? It seems like we're like in a pinball game or something where we keep literally bumping into each other at these mental health events. So clearly, I really believe in the universe. When you meet people, it's for a reason. Todd: It's a reason. A season or a lifetime, I've been. Lisa: Told yes, or a lesson somewhere in there, I have a few lesson people. Todd: Well, yeah, that too. Yeah, sure. Right. Lisa So we're having this chat because you've had a long journey with mental health. How long does that go back and when did things start? Todd: Oh, boy. This could be a three hour episode if we wanted it to be, but it actually started in grade five. I was diagnosed with a stomach ulcer. When you're grade five, most kids don't have stomach issues that like 80 year old ceos of billion dollar companies have because they have so much anxiety and pressure and worry. But that is an ailment that kind of runs in my family. My grandfather had it and my mom has issues, so nobody thought anything of it. So they treated me for the physical part of it, but nobody really questioned why was there anxiety? Why does he worry so much? And that was the thing. Nobody called it anxiety when I was grade five. So I'm 46 years old, so that was almost 40 years ago. So, yeah, the word anxiety wasn't really a thing. It was more like, oh, you worry too much, or my mom would call it a nervous stomach. So the nervous boy love. It's called chronic anxiety, actually. So that's kind of when it started. And then in high school, I kind of was introduced to alcohol. Being in a small town mean, I say that, but I mean, kids drink everywhere. But that was very much the culture when I was that age in small town Saskatchewan. And a lot of my anxiety kind of, I don't know, it didn't go away, but I didn't worry about every little thing like I used to. And then, yeah, out of high know, drinking turned into more and more. And there's a lot of addiction to my family, a lot of anger issues with the men. So a lot of my anxiety and depression eventually turned into anger. I was bouncing around from job to job. It's so weird. I've been discussing this lately, how life can be very polarizing at all times. So it's like some of these moments, I look back and it's like, that was the darkest time of my life. But then I'm also like, oh, but I had so much fun, too. So it's like you can be miserable and happy at the same time, and it's hard to wrap your head around how that's possible. But I don't know if it's like different frequencies, so they're not actually overlapping, they're actually just happening at the same time or something. Anyway, yeah, I used to play in bands and stuff, and it was like, I mean, talk about touring with a band and stuff. It is so much fun, but also so anxiety inducing. And you're drinking all the time and you're calling home and the girlfriend's crying and upset and missing you. And so it's like, yeah, it's very polarizing. So anyway, I had cool things like that going through my life, but also just everyday kind of schlub stuff. Band breaks up, and then you're doing just labor jobs for minimum wage. So then my anxiety depression stuff kind of turns more into the anger. And I think I'd rather feel depressed than angry. I can't stand that feeling. I'd wake up angry and go to work angry just because I felt unfulfilled or something, or not satisfied with life and the drop of a hat. I would just be throwing stuff and smashing stuff, and it's not a good look. I mean, I felt like a child having a temper tantrum. Like, I've seen family members do it, and every time I'm just like, oh, my God, this is so, one, scary for people, two, just annoying. You just want to shut up. And then there I am doing it, and it's like, oh, my God, I hate this. But eventually I started drinking and using marijuana constantly, and my issues came to a head. I had a suicide attempt. I tried going to the hospital once and was basically turned away, which is kind of a reason for when I started advocating, because I went to the ER and was turned away. So then, yeah, eventually stuff came to a head again and I ended up. I quit drinking, and that was huge for my anger and my depression. Still working through anxiety, then Covid hit and more job bouncing around. Then eventually I was diagnosed with ADHD about a year ago. And so this fall I was working with EMDR therapists to maybe work through some of my trauma stuff. It's basically lifelong, and there's always, anytime you peel off a layer, there's another layer there that you could definitely work on. And whether it's you use the same strategies or the same tools that you used before, or you need a different strategy like EMDR, or a different diagnosis, like ADHD, a different medication, or a different perspective when it comes to therapies or different modalities. I'm just trying to get through the day without letting these extreme polar feelings pull me one way or another and just keep the balance, really. It's a journey. Lisa: I have a question for you. I just want to circle back to something that you said. Todd: Definitely. Lisa: In your opinion, do you think that there is a connection between. I don't want to just say mental health, but let's say anxiety, just because that's something you're familiar with. Do you think that there's an association, a link, a parallel between substance use, whether it's alcohol or drugs, and anxiety? Todd: I do, of course, everybody's different, but when I worked, because I worked at the treatment center I went to after I quit drinking for a couple of years, and it was quite obvious that addiction is a comorbidity of not just anxiety, but like PTSD, bipolar, different personality disorders. And really an anxiety is just a symptom of a greater thing quite often, too. So, yeah, I do think that substance abuse and anxiety, not only do they link, but they are a very common comorbidity of a lot of other bigger issues, including trauma. And I mean, trauma is also a huge contributor to personality disorders and things. It actually drives me nuts a little bit that when we say mental health and addictions, I wish we could just get rid of the addictions part, because it is part of mental health. When I say mental health or mental illness, it includes addictions. Someday it would be nice to just drop that. But for people that maybe don't understand, I don't know, they're still separated for some reason. Lisa: Absolutely. I found we were talking about this earlier before I hit record. Even amongst our own stories, we are not just this one silo, this single aspect of mental health. I really see mental health myself, as a massive umbrella. And under that umbrella. There are a myriad of topics, including addictions, including grief, including so, so many things. But you're right, the more I learn, and I feel like there's so much still to be learned, that trauma. Trauma, my goodness. I think if we could all heal our traumas, we would probably be far better off. But unfortunately, we live in this symptom, fix the symptom kind of society, right? So we kind of have to pick at the layers, as you say. We kind of maybe get a handle on one layer, and lo and behold, there's another layer to deal with. So interesting. Todd: Sorry, I was going to say also, even with my ADHD, I feel like that's a huge contributor to my anxiety, depression, substance abuse, maybe not the cause. I do think it caused those things, but also other things also contributed to those things. So it's very nuanced. It's all very complicated. There's no one treatment, one pill, one disorder, one diagnosis that's going to fix everything. For me, anyway. I'm finding that I think I have ADHD, but I also think I do have chronic anxiety. On top of that, I also do think that DNA has something to do with it. And nature versus nurture, like you were saying before, you throw spaghetti at the wall and you try different modalities and tools and things, and hopefully you figure out what's going to help you with that particular, I don't know, symptom or whatever. You peel another layer off and you go, okay, that's better. Now moving on to the next one. Lisa Exactly. And I'm certainly not an expert with a bunch of letters behind my name, but I do know that because we are all complex human beings and we are all learning so much more that I think the key maybe is being open. Right? Maybe we don't know what it is that we need or that what's going to, quote unquote, work. I don't know that we can be fixed as human beings as much as people try to fix us, but to cope better or to deal with the situation, whatever it looks like for us. Todd: Or change a belief system within yourself, right? Lisa: A mindset shift, whatever you want to call it. But I think the key is being open and like you say, to keep trying the things, even though you might not think that it's your thing. Like EMDR, man. Game changer. Game changer. When I first read about what it was and what was entailed, I thought, this is insane. I come from a long history of working in the medical system. I'm research driven. I'm data focused. And that EMDR, just when I was reading about it, I thought, well, I'm not so sure about this, but it was one of the greatest things that I did for myself and I cannot say enough about it. Todd: And I tell people all the time, even if it's a placebo and it works. It worked. So who gives a ****? Yeah. Lisa: So tell us about a visit that you had that involved a 911 call. Todd: Well, I'm getting so old. It was like eight years ago. And then it's like someone's like, no, that was like twelve years ago. It's like, oh yeah, I guess you were kidding. So I'm not sure how long ago it was. It was quite a while ago. So this was really some of my darkest times. The year before, I had drove myself to the hospital in Regina, in the ER, asked for help. None was given. And so I felt, as a man in a small town prairie, it was embarrassing for me as a man to go look for help, for emotions. It was huge for me to go do that and then to be told to go home. And basically I was super embarrassed. So I was like, all right, well, I guess I just got to suck it up here. I guess I was already on meds and kind of seen a counselor, but still, it was embarrassing to me. So over the year, I was a bad father, I was a bad husband, I was a bad employee, I was a bad son, and I was using marijuana, drinking all the time I was at a job. I wasn't finding fulfillment in whether that was at the job itself or just because I was in that frame of mind. And things came to a head one day and I had a few drinks in me already. I wasn't like super drunk or anything. My wife said something that triggered me. I don't even remember what. I don't know if it's a psychotic episode, but it's like a dream. I don't remember. I had people fill in some of the blanks, like even years later. But my wife said something and I snapped and I started punching myself in the face. I started slamming my head on the table and it freaked her out. She grabbed our kids. They were little at the time. She went out the door. And while I was there by myself, apparently I just put my head through the wall and I was slamming it as hard as I could against appliances of things. I was convinced in my mind that I just had ruined my life. My wife and kids are gone forever. Over that year, I not just had suicidal ideation, I mean, I was obsessed about it every night before bed, I was pushing knives against my throat and against my wrists, and I was doing really reckless behaviors at work that was dangerous, not for other people, but for myself. When people ask if you had a plan, when doctors are assessing you, do you have a plan? Are you suicidal? Do you have a plan? It didn't matter where I was during my day. I had places I could do things to take my life, right? I worked at the PFRA, at the tree nursery in indian head, and was like, that's a great tree. Mental note. Tools in my shop, I was, like, at work, it was like, didn't matter where I was. I had a plan. So things really came to a head, and, yeah, I was basically slamming my head against stuff. And then my brother showed up. He was the one I had a couple beers with earlier, and my wife apparently went to his place and said, what the hell were you guys doing? Like, you have to go help Todd. He's freaking out. And I pulled out a knife because I'd been practicing for a year, and this was it. And he tried to stop me, and I swung the knife at him, and then he jumped on top of me. He's a big dude. Got on top me and pinned me down. And apparently my sister was there too, and she's, like, trying to get me to smoke weed. To calm down, someone called the ambulance or called 911, and next thing I know, there's three or four police officers in my dining room. They don't know what the hell is going on. They see a knife on the floor. They see a big guy on top of another guy, and all hell breaks loose. Eventually, I'm screaming at them to shoot me. I'm begging them to kill me. I grab one of their guns. I didn't get it out of the holster, but I got my hand on one of their guns. And then things really escalated, and I had parts of my body that I didn't know had feelings that were hurting, because police are very good at detaining people, let's put it that way. And, yeah, they tied me up, and I just remember crying. Not sobbing. I mean, like, scream crying, begging them to shoot me. And I remember saying, like, you're hurting me. I'm tired of hurting. Stop hurting me. I'm tired of hurting. Kill me. Shoot me. But anyway, they detained me and got me in their vehicle, and they took me to my local hospital here in needing head, which then they put me in an ambulance and took me to Regina, to the general hospital, and they finally admitted me into the hospital there. But I remember pulling up. It was almost a year to the day that I tried going to the hospital on my own, and I thought, holy ****, this is what it took to get into the hospital this time, I'm handcuffed to a gurney, strapped to a gurney in an ambulance with two police officers on either side of me. But anyway, I got there. I spent a couple of weeks there, and, I mean, I could write a whole tv series just about the two weeks being in there. And I learned something while I was in there. I learned that you don't really get help in the hospital necessarily. It was a safe place for me to be to chill out for a couple of weeks till I was, like, got my wits about me again. And it did speed up the process to start seeing a psychiatrist because I was on, like, a year long waitlist. And once I got there, it was like, instantly I pushed up the waitlist. So there was that. And it was the beginning, I guess, of my healing process, even though it still took probably five years of really dark moments. There were a couple of kind of rock bottom moments after that, but that was kind of the major one that kind of got the ball rolling a bit. So that was scary. Lisa: Hey, rising strong listeners. If you've been enjoying the inspiring interviews on the podcast, we'd love your support to help us reach more listeners and hopefully gain some sponsorship. To do that, please, like, follow and subscribe wherever you listen to podcast. And here's a little extra incentive. Leave us a five star review, and you'll be entered to win some cool, rising strong swag. Your support means the world to me. Now back to the show. Well, what breaks my heart the most listening to that? Is that something, a situation so extreme is what it took for you to get some attention. Medical, professional, whatever. All the attention. Todd: Yeah. Lisa: How many people suffer in silence? Some people don't have these major breakdowns. That's terrifying that our system is so broken that it takes that much to finally get attention. And then what did your journey after that look like? Were you able to access a psychiatrist or a counselor? Did it tell us what that looked? Todd: Well, actually, while I was in there twice, aa came to my hospital room, and I was like, I shooed them away because I was like, well, I'm crazy depressed. I'm not an alcoholic. I have enough issues. I don't need to join a cult. I shoot them away. In the next few years, I was not thriving. Let's opposite. I was surviving, not thriving, let's put it that way. I was just going through the motions of my day to day. I kind of quit drinking on my own for a little bit, but I really upped my marijuana use because as a stoner, it's like, it's good for you, man. It helps my anxiety, bro. I know different now, but it drives me nuts when I hear people say that. It's not even addicting, man. And then I run out of weed and I have a nervous breakdown 4 hours later. It's my anxiety. Well, yeah, I wonder why I have anxiety. Anyway, I think it was a couple of years later. I did have another stint in the hospital. About a year after that, I had a kind of a bad weekend. It was only a couple of nights I spent in there. I'm doing my best. I'm self employed. Like I said. Eventually I start drinking again. I'm drinking, I'm smoking weed every day. And then I see in the newspaper that the health region or health district or whatever the hell it was called back then, they were laying off. I think it was like 20 some people from the general hospital, all from the psych ward, and I think it was something like 17 of them were psych nurses. And I thought, holy ****, like, I was in there. I know how I've seen how it operates, and I've seen how often security is called. At one point, security was called on me, and I ended up spending the night locked in a room with no bed. They just threw a mattress on the floor, and there was like, cameras. And I was like, security does not de escalate things like the psych nurses are trained. So anyway, I read this. I was like, how is this possible? And once in a while, anger, it's a good motivator. And I was so ****** off. Not like emotionally dysregulated anger. I was like, focused anger. I was like, this is bullshit. So I wrote, I don't know, a letter or blog. I don't know what I was doing. I just let my feelings out on. Well, it's not paper. It was on a keyboard. And I went through my. I basically told my story up to that point and how I thought this is all bs and all this stuff. And I talked about my suicide attempt, which I'd never really done publicly, especially in a small town. And I don't even remember doing this, but I sent it to a bunch of different media outlets and I posted it on facebook and stuff, and it blew up. It kind of went like, I don't know how many tens of thousands of times that letter got shared. I saw it on web pages, like in the states and stuff. Even. I'm like, what is going on? And the next day, it was like all the news outlets from Regina came out to indian head to interview me and talk to me about the stuff. So then I was kind of thrown into this advocacy role that I never thought I'd ever be doing. So then I felt like there was extra pressure on me. Now it's like, oh, okay, I've got people's attention, attention now, so let's keep this ball rolling and make some changes and make a difference. And within two months of having that pressure on me, not that other people were doing it, but my own pressure, I was in the hospital again, and I woke my wife up extremely intoxicated, told her I was going to harm myself and whatever. And that night, I wrote something on my computer. I considered it kind of a suicide note, but it wasn't really a suicide note. But again, a moment of clarity. I woke my wife up. Don't remember. I was so drunk. And that was the last night I drank, actually. I went to the small town hospital here in indian head, and I had an amazing doctor in town at the time, and he basically convinced me to go to treatment and start going to aa and stuff. And so I detoxed in the hospital here for a few weeks. And that really started. Well, actually. Okay, no, the other one started my journey. This was kind of mid journey now, but quitting drinking and quitting the marijuana and all that stuff, that was a huge thing. To this day, I have people reach out to me about a loved one they have, or even about themselves, and they're like, they're drinking, they're using, they're also depressed and all this stuff. And what do we treat first? The depression or the addiction? Again, no two people are the same for me. I had to get rid of that addiction before I could start healing about the anxiety and the depression and what was causing the depression and anxiety. That was the brown skin of the onion. I couldn't even get to layers until that big Chunk came off first. I'm assuming most people are like that, but again, everybody's different. Lisa Yeah. I think that is not a road that I have traveled, however, being on the sidelines of observing people in my life, I would say, from what I have observed, purely that I would concur with that. And so powerful. And it must be so difficult for loved ones spouses. May I ask how your marriage got through these years? I mean, that had to have been a massive strain. Todd: Oh, yeah. There was more than once where I wasn't sure we were going to make it. And I don't want to get too personal, but like I said, I was a bad husband. I was a bad father, I was a bad son. I was doing things that were against my own moral code. And then once you have some moments of clarity, you're like, what am I doing? This is not me. So she was amazing. My wife was amazing. After the first big stay at the hospital, I continued to see my psychiatrist and a counselor regularly. My wife knew somehow she's just a very intelligently, emotionally intelligent person. She knew that we couldn't work as a couple until she dealt with some stuff, too. So whatever I was going through kind of triggered some stuff in her. So she saw someone separately to deal with issues, traumas, and things she was dealing with, and then we would see someone together. So this was all happening at the same time. I was seeing my own person, she was seeing her own person. And then on separate days, we would see someone as a couple. And I really do feel like we got married young, like, we've been together for over 20 years, and I really do feel like we grew up together, even though we did know each other as children. We met when I was, like, 20 and she was 19 or something, but we really grew up together going through that. And then the next time when I was detoxing in the hospital and I quit drinking that night, it was shortly after that that I kind of wanted to leave the hospital and come home. And she said, like, I can't watch you do this to yourself anymore. I love you too much, and I just can't watch anymore. And she was like, if you are coming home, just come home to get your things, because I can't do this anymore. And I thought, oh, ****, okay, this is affecting people more than I thought. So I ended up staying at the hospital and detoxing and going through the whole thing the second time, it wasn't like she was mad or anything. I mean, I'm sure she was mad, but, yeah, it was just too. She was protecting herself and the kids. She's like, we can't do this anymore. I can't watch you do this anymore. And the kids are getting affected by it, and they're going to have traumas and stuff. Lisa: Do you think that hard line in the sand from her? Do you think that gave you a little nudge? A big nudge, maybe? Yeah. Todd: In addiction treatment, they're like, you're not doing this for other people. You're doing this for yourself. And it was kind of an ultimatum in a way, but also I was ready. I was so sick of it and I was just too scared. I was too scared to do it on my own. I didn't know how to do it. I was terrified. I tried for so many attempts to quit and to heal and it was too scary. So I'd quit. So generally, I don't think ultimatums work unless the other person is ready. Like I was ready. I just needed that nudge. And I tell people all the time too, that I think she had the harder end of the deal then. I've had people say, no, you can't compare pain, you can't compare traumas, and you can't compare, which is true. But as a parent now, it's like if my kids were going through it or my wife was going through the things I was going through, I don't know if I'd be able to stick around or just the sleepless nights, the absolute helplessness that she must have felt. God, I can only imagine how scary. Lisa Well, I'm glad that the two of you were able to work it through. I don't know the statistics, but marriage is hard enough on a good day to have extra stressors on it and so on and so forth. I mean, you clearly worked as a team, so I'm really glad to hear that. For anybody who might be listening, who is maybe at their lowest point struggling with either many of the aspects of mental health or addictions, what would be your advice to them? Todd: Oh man, there's so many things because there's so many levels to it. For one, keep advocating for yourself because the system does suck. And even when you're doing what your doctor's orders and you think things are going well, want more, demand more, get certain dates, whatever, like demand more. Because I guarantee you, I feel bad saying this because everyone I've ever met that works in addictions and mental health and in the health authorities, they're all sweet, lovely people, but the system, it's the system that sucks. And they know that. They even know that. So nothing against anyone that works in this field. It's just you have to demand more because the system will probably fail you at some point if you don't demand more. And I've seen it time and time again, and as far as we've come from my first suicide attempt to now, which has been about twelve years, it was only a year ago or a year and a half ago where that young guy was again told to leave the hospital in an hour later, he's found swim floating in the lake. So it's still happening. It's still not perfect. I know that there'll always be a certain percentage of people that get lost, but it's still very frustrating. And the other thing is, no one's going to do it for you. No pill, no therapist is going to fix you. You have to do the work. And that's the hardest part, is taking that first step to actually start doing the work. It took my wife saying, leave, I can't be around you anymore, to really start doing the work. I had seen a counselor for probably two or three years. Off and on. I wasn't doing anything. Like, I would go to the counselor session, I'd come home and not do anything to ask me to do. I'd be taking the pills and then be going like, why aren't they fixing me? Why haven't you cured me yet? And it's hard. It's simple. What you have to do is simple, but it's hard. It's not easy. It's a very simple plan on paper, but executing it is extremely difficult. It's painful, it's terrible. You think of having a broken leg, like the trauma of the broken leg, you don't even feel it at the time. It's the healing, it's the pain. That journey of healing sucks. And then it gets itchy under the cast and there's all types of things, and then you have to go through rehabilitation and all this stuff, like healing sucks, but if you don't do the work, you're just going to get gangrene and who knows what. It's kind of a weird analogy, I guess, but it works. So, yeah, it takes a lot of courage to heal, and unfortunately, a lot of people either don't get that nudge or they never, or something tragic happens before they're able to get into the mindset of doing the work. Lisa: I think you nailed it. There's no fairy godmother that's going to show up. No one is coming to save your butt. We've got to do the work ourselves. And you're absolutely right. It's simple, but far from easy. So one of the things I like to ask my guests on the podcast is what the word resilient means to you. Todd: I just used this word the other day, and I don't know if I've ever really used this word to describe myself or anyone other than Europe after World War II or something, but I use it the other day in a text to my know, life is still hard, whether it's financial or we were watching loved ones being sick. And like you said, even on a good day, marriages can be hard. So to me, resilience. When I think of the word resilience, I think of my wife and I, and I think of our family. And I said, we've been resilient in the past, and we're going to be resilient still, and we're going to get through this patch of it's not a relationship thing, but there's people around us that are suffering financially and kids are graduating, so we're borderline empty, nesting in a few months. So it's just a very transitional period in our lives right now for not just my wife and I, but for other people in our family. So when I think of resilience, I think of my wife and I, and I've never used that word to describe me or our relationship before. So it's kind of funny you use that word. You asked me about that today. Lisa: Well, when I started the podcast, and I knew I wanted to focus on mental health, but I knew that I also wanted to focus on people like you who really are resilient. And it's just really interesting to me because I do ask every single guest that question. Their answers are all varied, right? Because we're all unique snowflakes, but they're all the same at the same time. And I just find it so interesting. And I think it's your story that makes you resilient, right? I did a talk just a couple of weeks ago, and I said, unfortunately, we can't even talk about resilience until we talk about adversity, right? Because when we're sitting on a beach eating cupcakes all day long and the unicorns are running by, we're not growing, right? We're not becoming resilient. That's almost the opposite of resilience. So unfortunately, it does take adversity to get resilience. And like you are, you are that person. And I am so proud of you, Todd, so proud of you for the work that you've done, for the advocacy work that you continue to do. We didn't even get to your book. You've written a children's book, which I just think is just such a gift. It's such a hard topic to talk about. Yes, sometimes, daddy Christ, tell us just real quickly about your book and who it's for and where people can get a hold of it. Todd: Well, actually, the night I quit drinking and I said, I went to my computer and typed up a suicide note. It was actually the first draft of this book. So the night I quit drinking was the first draft of this book, and it was very different. It was the first draft, but it's basically the perspective of a kid watching his father go through depression, anxiety, and stuff. So the father never actually says anything in the book. It's always a conversation with the kid and the mother and the mother explaining to him that it's like having a stomachache. You're not well, so you have to get help. Sometimes you need rest. Sometimes you need medicine. Sometimes you have to go to the hospital. For whatever reason. I have a hard time tooting my own horn. But it's one of the things I'm very proud of, is that book. I think I've walked that fine line of making it realistic, but also not scary for kids. It's just this is what it's like. And kids do tend to understand physical things, so they can apply that to their emotions and to their mental health. And, yeah, it's gotten really great feedback from parents and from professionals. So, yeah, I'm really proud of it. lisa: Well, I think to me, the most important part is that it opens the door for conversation. Right. I mean, I am no parenting expert, but I do know that our kids don't necessarily learn from one conversation. Right. It's that constant revisiting topics. And a book for a small child is just a brilliant way to ease into it, open the door, make this a normalized part of conversations. Todd: Right, exactly. Lisa: It's very brilliant. And I'm, again, just so grateful that you were able to find the space and the heart space, really, to write that. So if people want to get a hold of your book, is it on Amazon? Todd Yeah, it. Yeah, if you go on Amazon ca. Or it's on some other websites and stuff, too. Yeah. Sometimes daddy cries. I wanted to add real quick that something I didn't expect with the book was opening up that conversation with the mother and the father, because probably 99% of the people that bought the book are females. So it's the mother or it's the mother of a child whose husband is suffering. Because for whatever reason, men. I don't know what it is. I talk about mental health all the time, and it's like 80% or 85% of my audience is female. And so it's like, I think men don't even know it's the problem because they either are drinking it away or getting angry. They don't realize their anger is actually depression or anxiety. Or whatever, so they don't even realize they're suffering anyway. That was a very interesting thing with the book, was finding that. Lisa: Absolutely. And maybe we'll come back and we'll do another podcast another time. But I think you critters, you males are absolute masters at a word I can never say. Compartmentalization, it's a big word and you just are able to put it somewhere. Push it down. I mean, not effectively. You don't get bonus points for doing that. But it's something that I think men do do, and I read something or heard something that we simple, right? We get better at what we do. So the more we push down, the better we get at pushing it down. The more we talk about it, the better we get at talking about it. So you know what? You are doing this world so much good by being a male voice speaking to mental health. And I know that eventually things will change and more men will know, opening up to this whole concept of doing the work. So I cannot thank you enough Todd for being here today, being vulnerable, sharing your story in such a raw and real way. Friends, make sure to check out Todd's podcast called Bunny Hugs and mental health. And make sure to follow him on Instagram at Bunny Hugs podcast. Stay well and be resilient and we'll catch you next time.

Todd: Okay, here's another thing. It's a little bit impolite. What about looking at other people's monitor over their shoulder? 'Cause you just mentioned the BTS. One thing I have to admit is, because I don't have my phone out and I am looking around, I have a tendency to see, wanna check and see what's on everybody's phone. And it's total intrusion. It's creepy in a way, but it's also because in Asia I'm a little bit taller than the average person, so I'm looking down and I can see everybody's monitor. And yeah, do you ever find yourself doing that too? 托德：好吧，还有一件事。这有点不礼貌。越过肩膀看别人的显示器怎么样？因为你刚刚提到了 BTS。我必须承认的一件事是，因为我没有拿出手机，而是环顾四周，所以我倾向于查看、想要检查并查看每个人手机上的内容。这是完全的入侵。从某种程度上来说这很令人毛骨悚然，但这也是因为在亚洲我比一般人高一点，所以我低头就能看到每个人的显示器。是的，你也发现自己也这样做过吗？ Angela: I do, yeah. But like you, I think it's impolite. 安吉拉：我做过，是的，但跟你一样，我也认为那个不礼貌。Todd: Right. So you gotta pull away, I know I shouldn't do it. 托德：对。所以你必须离开，我知道我不应该这样做。 Angela: But you know the worst thing with phones these days, the worst thing from my point of view is the amount of pictures that people take of themselves everywhere, on the BTS, on the subway, eating. I've been to S21 in Cambodia where those poor people were slaughtered basically, and there are people in front of pictures of these people who were killed, and they are just literally taking selfies of themselves, you know, this world isn't about you. It's sometimes, just stop and look and listen. 安吉拉：但是你知道现在手机最糟糕的事情，从我的角度来看，最糟糕的事情是人们在任何地方拍摄自己的照片，在 BTS 上、在地铁上、在吃饭时。我去过柬埔寨的S21，那里的穷人基本上都被屠杀了，有人在这些被杀者的照片前，他们只是在自拍，你知道，这个世界不是关于 你。有时，只需停下来看看、听一听。 Todd: Yeah, the selfie thing, I did a little bit. Sometimes I would do it almost like it's sending a postcard. 托德：是的，自拍这件事，我做了一点。有时我会像寄明信片一样这样做。Angela: Yeah 安吉拉：是的 Todd: You know what I mean? "Oh, look, I'm here." But I have to admit, yeah, I don't really like doing it, yeah. 托德：你明白我的意思吗？“哦，你看，我来了。” 但我必须承认，是的，我真的不喜欢这样做，是的。 Angela: I'm gonna take the shot again, the shot again. I use selfies in a group, because I think they're fun. It's actually quite fun to see one person in the front and the rest in the back. 安吉拉：我要再开枪，再开枪。我在团体中使用自拍照，因为我认为它们很有趣。看到一个人在前面，其他人在后面，其实挺有趣的。 Todd: Yes. 托德：是的。 Angela: And it usually means that I can get further back in the photograph, so that's always a good thing. 安吉拉：这通常意味着我可以在照片中看到更远的地方，所以这总是一件好事。Todd: Oh, yeah, that's true. So but, that's good that you admit you do some selfies. 托德：哦，是的，确实如此。所以，但是，你承认你做了一些自拍照，这很好。Angela: Yeah, yeah, yeah, with groups. And if I'm taking a group in the class, I'll get one of them to take the photograph. 安吉拉：是的，是的，是的，有团体。如果我在班上带领一群人，我会让其中一个人拍照。 Todd: Yeah. What about the ... mild pet peeve of mine, not a pet peeve, but people taking photos of their food. I don't know why it's a thing. 托德：是的。 那……我的轻微的烦恼呢？不是烦恼，而是人们给食物拍照。 我不知道为什么会有这样的事情。 Angela: Why? Eat it. Todd: Yeah, exactly, enjoy it. Enjoy the memory. It's interesting that you said that about Cambodia. A woman, a group of women once said something that was really like just a spear in the heart, really made me think. I was in Cambodia, this was years ago, and I was at Angkor, at Baton, Bayon, or I can't say it right, but where they have the beautiful face sculptures, and I'm like, "Oh, I gotta get a photo." And so there was a woman just sitting there, relaxed, she was maybe French or something, she was European, and she was like, "Oh, you want me to take your photo?" And I go, "Yeah, yeah, yeah." 托德：是的，确实如此，享受吧。 享受记忆。 有趣的是你对柬埔寨的评价。 一个女人，一群女人，曾经说过一句话，就像一根矛刺在心上，真的让我深思。 我在柬埔寨，那是几年前的事了，我在吴哥，在巴顿，巴戎寺，或者我不能说对，但是那里有美丽的面部雕塑，我想，“哦，我得 拍张照片。” 所以有一个女人坐在那里，很放松，她可能是法国人或其他什么人，她是欧洲人，她说，“哦，你想让我给你拍照吗？” 我说：“是啊，是啊，是啊。” So then she takes it, she takes my photo, this was before cell phone cameras. And then I'm like, okay, I have to reciprocate. I go, "Oh, would you like me to take a photo of you?" She's like, "No." I'm like, "You don't have a camera?" And she goes, "No," and she just points at her head and she taps her head like this, and she goes, "It's all up here." And I was like, "Wow." She was really- 然后她拿走了，她拍了我的照片，这是在手机相机出现之前。 然后我想，好吧，我必须回报。 我说：“哦，你愿意我给你拍张照片吗？” 她说：“不。” 我说：“你没有相机吗？” 她说，“不，”她只是指着自己的头，像这样轻拍她的头，然后她说，“全都在这里了。” 我当时想，“哇。” 她真的是—— Angela: amazing, yeah. 安吉拉：太棒了，是的。Todd: ... kind of like, politely saying, "Just, I'm never gonna ..." I've never forgotten how all those things look, I've never forgotten her sitting on the rock when she said that. So wise advice I think. 托德：……有点像，礼貌地说，“只是，我永远不会……”我永远不会忘记所有这些事情的样子，我永远不会忘记她说这句话时坐在岩石上的样子。 我认为这是明智的建议。 Angela: Yeah, I think so. Todd: Now, actually you are in photography. Do you think that actually taking so many ... I'm sorry, you have a photography business. 托德：现在，实际上你正在从事摄影工作。 你以为居然拍了这么多……对不起，你是做摄影生意的。 Angela: Yes. 安吉拉：是的。Todd: Do you think that actually taking so many photographs lessens the value of the art of photography and really appreciating a good picture? 托德：你认为拍摄这么多照片是否会降低摄影艺术的价值以及真正欣赏一张好照片的价值？Angela: Yes, I think it does. And I think that a lot of the apps and the things that you can use these days to improve photographs take away the real skill of the photographer, using the light, using the lines, using what's in the photograph to make a really good shot. I think people miss that these days. 安吉拉：是的，我想是的。 我认为现在很多可以用来改善照片的应用程序和东西都剥夺了摄影师的真正技能，即使用光线、使用线条、使用照片中的内容来拍出真正好的照片。 我想现在人们很怀念这一点。Todd: Yeah. That is true. Anyway, so today, no using your phone. 托德：是的。 那是真实的。 无论如何，所以今天不要使用手机。Angela: No, I did hear it go, "Bing, bing."安吉拉：不，我确实听到了“Bing，Bing”的声音。

Take a moment to catch your breath before the Stanley Cup Final, with referee Kelly Sutherland mic'd up, the referees and linesmen working the Cup Final, the first female on-ice official enters the IIHF Hall of Fame, ECHL refs have an easy night, and the CHL looks at three major rule changes for the 2023-24 season -- all around penalties and power plays! More on these topics, including video clips and rule breakdowns, at scoutingtherefs.com Visit www.scoutingtherefs.com and follow @scoutingtherefs and @toddlewissports on Twitter and Instagram. Email us your questions - heyref@scoutingtherefs.com Call the RefLine at 585-484-REFS!   Episode Transcript #166 Scouting the Refs is an unscripted audio podcast, designed to be heard. It's a whole lot more interesting to listen to the audio, but we're happy to provide a transcription below. This transcript has been generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers, and may contain textual or typographical errors.  Full transcript: https://scoutingtherefs.com/2023/06/40183/scouting-the-refs-podcast-166-making-the-cut-for-the-cup-final/   Todd: So I know we're all excited about the Stanley Cup final beginning and finally getting underway, Florida Panthers and the Vegas Golden Knights, but you know Josh? I'm thinking I want to start planning now. What we're going to be doing in the next few weeks when there's no games to watch, because no matter how much I prepare mentally at this point in time in the season, I always suffer from withdrawals after the Cup final is completed and the trophy is handed out. Josh: It's such a challenge, right? We go from the first round where you've got multiple games every night and just there's something going on everywhere at every hour. And the NHL even figured out scheduling this year, so with the games spread out, we could watch a lot of the action. And then it dwindles down a little bit more and now we've had this break of days without hockey, at least at the NHL level, and now the most we'll have is a game every other night. It's starting to feel real, Todd. It's starting to slip away a little bit. The hockey season is leaving us. Todd: It is and that's the hard part. I know the theory is that you start big and that it seems as though like you're kind of being weaned off the drug but it doesn't really work that way. You still suffer from the the withdrawals when it's gone.  Josh: And, you know, the warm temps outside don't exactly help you. The weather's warm. You want to be outdoors doing things, especially with these games on the weekend. You're out and about it's it's hot outside. You've got shorts and a t-shirt on, and then you come back in to watch some ice hockey. Yeah, I I love the length of the season. I love that we have all these games, but when you start to get into June, especially the middle of June, it it feels like maybe we've gone too far. Todd: You know, we'll, we'll get through it. We always do. And there will be the anticipation before long of the new season. This is the Scouting the Refs Podcast. Please make sure you follow us on the social channels. Josh, of course can be found @scoutingtherefs on Twitter and Instagram, you'll get me at @toddlewissports on Twitter and Instagram as well. Coming up on this week's episode: Kelly Sutherland mic'd up, who made the cut, a Hall of Fame career, and new rules the NHL should be considering. I am very excited to discuss this topic, Josh. Josh: New rules are always interesting, sometimes they have unintended consequences, so you never know how it will play out, but it will be interesting to see. Todd: Okay, so let's get to some of the other stuff before we talk about the potential for for new rules. Four-star review for the video of the Western Conference Series game One. You hear from players, you hear from coaches, but most importantly you hear referee Kelly Sutherland at work out on the ice. We've seen these  videos pop up semi regularly. They provide great insight into what is happening on the ice during the games, and conveniently enough, the bad words are taken out for you. That's why it takes a couple of days to get them out. So Kelly Sutherland, as you've perhaps seen before in some of these videos, is one of the most vocal referees out on the ice. He's explaining to players what he sees after a play. He's telling goaltenders that he's watching for the goalie interference. He's explaining to coaches what is happening out on this. It's it's as if he is a coach out on the ice at times. I think it's a great job that he does. Josh: Absolutely. It's one of the reasons that when they've had the player polls in the past that Sutherland scores so highly as one of the league's top officials. It's not only about positioning and judgment and comportment and all of the things that go in from an officiating standpoint. But from the players point of view, here's a guy who's actually helping you understand where the line is, and he's giving you advance notice before he's calling the penalty. And as a player, that's what you wanna have. You want to know where you stand and and when you're getting too far over the line. And that's what Sutherland does. I think one of his greatest strengths is the communication side of thing of warning guys and when they're getting too close and putting pressure in the crease. Or when it's a potential interference call and things he's seeing out there, so he tries to set that up front and then stick with that standard the whole game. And it's great when you have the mic'd up videos, because then we get to hear some of that dynamic and you see what goes into it before a penalty's actually called. Because he might have been chatting about it for the whole first period, halfway through the second period and a guy keeps at it and now all of a sudden he's blowing the whistle because he's warned him and he's had that conversation and it's one of his strengths. And it's really interesting to hear the types of things that go on. But you're right, Todd, it's almost like he's the second coach out there advising these guys. So he's not just enforcing the rules, but he's he's warning them he's giving them a heads up. He's reminding them of where the line is and when they've gone to far, that's when he has to send them off to the box. Todd: I I love it too. It's not just after the play that he's explaining calls, but as you mentioned, when two players are tied up, he's telling one like, okay, let him go. You gotta let him go now otherwise. You get the interference call and it's just like I don't want to penalize you, but I'm going to have to pretty soon. Josh: Yeah. And it's great in this video, you can hear a nice exchange he has with Keegan Kolesar about a hit that happened and there was a cross checking why he didn't call it and Kolesar's great, super polite there. Just thanking him for it. ‘I appreciate it' is what he says afterwards. So you might not always agree with it, but just giving that explanation and. Letting the guy understand why the call was or wasn't made in a certain situation is immensely helpful. But I don't know if you noticed, Todd, in the clip one of the coaches is on there saying, ‘Nice chat, Kelly.' We don't actually get the content of that conversation. So I don't know if it was something they wanted to keep quiet, or if there were just too many four letter words to include it. Todd: Yeah, that that sometimes the editing can be a little bit tricky on those. Again, I think it provides great insight and good job, I believe for putting those out even if it's 3-4 days after because of all the all the approval that has to go through. So with this video and hearing Kelly Sutherland at work, it is not surprising that he was one of the referees named to work in the Stanley Cup. Final he'll be joined by Steve Kozari, Wes McCauley – no surprise there, Dan O'Rourke, and Chris Rooney. The linesmen are Steve Barton, Scott Cherrey, Brad Kovachik, Kiel Murchison, and Jonny Murray. Congratulations to all for reaching the final. There's no real surprises with any of these names, is there? Josh: No, everybody's been here before, so I can't say that any of them come as a total shock. You've got tons of veteran experience there, McCauley, Sutherland both working their 10th Stanley Cup Final, Rooney with six. Even Johnny Murray, with six. So everybody's been here plenty of times. They all know what it's like, what the pressure entails, what the big games mean. It was not a shock.   I was hoping that some of the younger guys might have made it. We saw Jean Hebert make the Cup Final last year, thought he might have a shot at returning this year, but he and Trevor Hanson, looking to make his Cup Final debut, both left off of the rosters. I thought either one of them could have made it, but who do you cut in their place? This is such a a challenge here. Figuring it out. So you think of – from an NHL standpoint – everything that goes into it and it's your full season, it's your mid season grade, it's your season end evaluation and then it's what you've done each round in the playoffs. So all of that leading up to it and I I think you know, we see and expect who's going to make it. And I I'd say these are like you said, Todd, no surprises here on these crews. Todd: Now, as you explained nicely in a piece on the scoutingtherefs.com website, the final works a little bit differently in that there's not specifically a backup referee at each event and the whole procedure of pairing guys together works a little bit differently as well. Josh: It's interesting to see because all season long we get this rotation of refs. Everybody works the next game with a different partner, typically because of travel, maybe they'll have a back-to-back together, but you're typically working each game with an entirely different crew. Through the first few rounds of the playoffs, that changes a bit because we do see ref pairings and linesman pairings, and often we see that quartet move together through some games. We definitely saw in the conference final where Kelly Sutherland's crew, the same four of them, worked together each game. Once you get to the Stanley Cup Final, they throw everybody back in the hat and basically draw numbers again. So you've got an odd number of referees, which means we're no longer having that pairing; we're having a rotation where the first two guys will work game one, the second two guys will work game two and then they'll start to mix it up after that because of the odd number. So your partner being a standard guy and and maybe at some of them that you've worked together the entire postseason up until now, now you're gonna get a new partner every night. So back to how the regular season works with the rotation. Obviously you're hoping these are your top officials. These are the best of the best. These guys have been consistent throughout the postseason, so it shouldn't matter, but it definitely shakes things up a little bit, so it'll be interesting to see how those tendencies translate when we see a guy where maybe two guys have worked together the entire postseason and now they get to work with different partners in the Stanley Cup Final. Todd: One other note on the referees who are and are not working the Cup Final, and you and I were exchanging messages during this game. But for those that say there is no accountability for officials, yes, there is, because there was one particular game with the Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes, where not one, but two goals were overturned on offside challenges and those two linesmen are not working in the Stanley Cup Final. Now, they were so close. It was microscopic that they were offside plays, but this is the price that they're paying. Josh: Yeah,  and we don't know. For sure if that happened to be the reason or the straw that broke the camel's back, or if there are other contributing factors here in making that decision. But, certainly, it's one of those things that you look at from an officiating management standpoint when you have guys that are frequently involved in coaches challenge or you have referees that maybe are calling major penalties, that they're downgrading after review, maybe it makes you question their judgment a little bit. I'm not saying it's right or wrong and and like you said, these are really close plays, so I'm not even going to point fingers at the officials or or find fault in how it worked out, but certainly the optics of having a call that had to be overturned on such a public stage and in such a critical juncture in a key moment for a goal to be scored or not, you can't help but think that that did put the spotlight on them a little bit more and may have influenced Stephen Walkom's decision. Todd: A couple of non-NHL notes that we should mention as well. Congratulations to Sandra Dombrowski, who now goes by Sandra Frye. She has become the first female on ice official inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame. Congratulations Sandra on a great international hockey career.  Josh: Yeah. Very nice to see that honor there. The class of 2023 was inducted. We have lots of players from all over the place and another official making it in. And there's very few in the IIHF Hall of Fame. Only eight now, with Dombrowski's edition and mostly European, we don't have an American or even a Canadian official that are yet in the IIHF Hall of Fame, so there's there's still boundaries to hit there, but nice to see Dombrowski get in. She broke plenty of boundaries coming in and making her way up. Even as a hockey player, when she was younger, she couldn't find a team to play with as a woman, so she founded her own and it went from there and she was involved in a lot of firsts. The first unofficial women's game at the World Championship and then the first woman referee of a Women's World gold medal game. So nice to see her recognized for all the contributions to hockey, both as a player as an official and then coming off the ice, working as a supervisor and then part of the IIHF officiating committee. So she's given a lot to hockey and nice to see them reciprocate and and give the honor of putting her into the IIHF Hall of Fame. Todd: So the first North American referee that could go in potentially maybe a few years down the road, you know if that was Wes McCauley, I got to think that the acceptance speech is going to be out of this world because they they let them do that at the presentation, don't they? Josh: They do and they did, and Dombrowski gave a great speech. It was wonderful to hear from her and you could tell how much this meant to her; how much hockey means to her. So it was a great honor, but I just picture Wes being most comfortable with just want to give that speech with the mic on, at center ice in full uniform. Todd: Five for fighting! Josh: We've got an induction! Todd: Perfect. Love it. Okay, also non-NHL-related. Congratulations to the Florida Everblades for their win over the Newfoundland Growlers. They win the Eastern Conference final in the ECHL. They'll move on to play Idaho in the final. That series also opens up on Saturday, June the 3rd. Congrats to the Blades who are going for back-to-back titles. It is the second time these two teams have met. In 2004, it was the Idaho Steelheads that prevailed . It was an interesting game summary in this one. It was a double overtime game as I mentioned, but barely a whistle blown for a penalty. Josh: Yeah, quiet one for the officials, which is —  It's funny, we joked last week on the podcast about how things tighten up and saying that when you get into game six or game seven, we see fewer and fewer penalties and things really tighten up and I think it's on both sides, right? I think it's on the officials. Maybe I don't wanna say pocketing the whistles, cause that becomes a a negative, but maybe calling that standard tightly and making sure everybody knows where it is. But we also see it on the players trying to be on their best behavior because they don't want to be the person sitting in the box that's responsible for a power play goal against, especially when goals are so critical. But this one, Todd, referee Sam Heideman and Alex Normandin called a clean game effectively because they didn't hand out any power plays. They had some penalties. We had a holding minor that was accompanied by a diving penalty, so that washes out; we have no man advantage there. Only one other penalty in the game. And you can thank the linesman for it because it was a bench minor for too many men on the ice. Todd: Now those of us that are familiar with the ECHL and have, you know, seen a few games, is this a first? Josh: It's a relatively well behaved game for these guys. Nice to see how well-mannered both clubs were. I got to watch part of the game didn't see the whole thing, but you know it's one of those things where you don't want to be the guy who messes it up. You're trying to keep it clean. You don't wanna get whistled for anything. You're kind of playing a little more careful, a little, a little safe there, especially in a game that spent a lot of the time tied. I mean from the second period on, the whole third period, the whole first over time, you've got a tie game there. So you definitely don't want to be the guy who puts your team shorthanded. Todd: I'll just end by saying go Blades. That's my hometown team. Okay, now we talked about some potential rule changes that are going to take place. They are taking place in the Champions League in Europe and I think that there's some some of these –  in fact, I like all of them – that could and should be considered by the National Hockey League. Okay, so let's go through them one at a time. First, being minor penalties dealt with the same as a major penalty in that a team that has caused a minor penalty will remain shorthanded, even if the opposing team scores a goal, so you're serving the full two. Josh: Yeah, not a radical change here. This is one of those ‘everything old is new again' kind of moments because this is how it was in the National Hockey League up until 1956. You sat for the whole 2 minutes; you served your time. If they scored once, twice, three times, however many they score in that 2 minutes, you're staying in the box. So I think the Champions League is looking to boost goal scoring here and they also say that they want to make sure punishments are consistent. So yeah, you did the crime you will do the time, no matter how many goals get scored during your sentence. Todd: I don't think that's an unreasonable thing. I know that we had an exceptional power play this year with the Edmonton Oilers, but it still was, what? Just over 30%. So it's unlikely that you're going to score two or three or four goals, but maybe that helps as a deterrent. Josh:  It could because those penalties become a bit more valuable. And right now you're looking at it as you're either short handed for two minutes or you've given up a goal and then you're back to even strength. Now you're definitely going to be shorthanded for the whole 2 minutes, and you aren't capped at just giving up one shorthanded goal, so it does put a little premium on those penalties, which hopefully doesn't put more pressure on the refs when it comes to not wanting to decide the game or factor into the game. You need to call it the same way, it's just that the each penalty call becomes a bit more impactful, potentially. Todd: Okay, also with a delayed penalty, a minor penalty will be served even if a goal is scored while a delayed penalty is pending. Josh: Yep, and I'm good with this one. This is one of those interesting situations where many of the leagues wipe out the goals on delayed penalties. NCAA College Hockey in the US actually has this rule currently where a goal scored on the delayed penalty does not wash out the penalty. If you score on the delayed call, you still get a power play afterwards and the player still serves his time, which now under this other rule will also be a full 2 minute power play coming out of that. Todd: Right. Josh: It's it's pretty interesting at the NHL level and others that penalty just disappears. It never happened. The the guy doesn't have two minutes associated with any infraction. He doesn't serve any time in the box; the entire penalty isn't even recorded.  At the USA Hockey level, it is recorded but not served. So I think it's interesting. I mean, I've rallied before in the past to say they should consider at least booking the guy for the two minutes and making him sit in the box even if you don't give the team a man advantage, but I think this is the most honest way to do it. The delayed penalty isn't a power play. It's an opportunity where the other team can't touch the puck, so it it definitely comes to a benefit to the attacking team. They get to pull the goaltender, they get to maintain possession. So there there's definitely a benefit there, but I've always been amazed that it offsets the power play there. And again I think this is just try to keep balance and keep scoring down, but now you're going to see more scoring because not only will you score on the delayed penalty… or if you do, you'll still get a 2 minute power play. Todd: I like it. I think it's a a good idea and the other one that's being implemented by the Champions League is that a short handed goal erases a current minor penalty. If the team shorthanded scores, then their minor penalty will come to an end. I'm okay with this. I guess it's a bit of a ‘get out of jail' free card. Well, even more of a bonus than that, but I think it will encourage teams to maybe try stuff on the penalty kill. Josh: This is the most radical of them, right? Because everything up until now has been ‘Delayed penalty? You're still going to serve the time', ‘Other team scores? You're still gonna serve the time.' Well, your own team scores. Now you get out of jail free — so you worded it properly, Todd, I think that's exactly what it is. And this one's not looking at the change from a punishment standpoint. This is purely around goal scoring because you're you're hoping that you can get that team to stretch things out a little bit and think offensively, which could open scoring the other way and make those short handed teams a little less defensively conscious because now they want to score. They want to get that time back, especially if it's late in the game, you're trailing, you don't wanna wait out the whole 2 minutes. If you can get this goal, you can get back to even strength. So I think it's an interesting move. I think it's definitely the most radical of the ones that are coming in here and the one I'm curious to see what types of changes that makes to how teams approach being shorthanded and and what the power plays look like. And remember with those other changes, you will be shorthanded the entire time, so you've got that two minutes you can be scored on multiple times unless you do this to end your short handed situation by scoring a shorthanded goal.  The combination of these three makes it really interesting. I feel like it's gonna take some time for teams and coaches to adapt to what the strategy is here and how best to take advantage of this and and how to work it properly. So I'm glad the Champions Hockey League is putting these in place, since these are ones that we've talked about at the North American hockey level and it's the right place to test it. It's this the specialty league. They have limited scope, limited teams, 24 teams this year coming in from all over Europe. So because of the way they're set up, I think it's a great proving ground to see how are these going to work when we first put them in place and then by the end of the season, is it still doing what we thought it would? Or have we seen things change dramatically?  And you know what they then they take a break, they can change it for next year, but at least this is the right place where you can actually try that and see how it plays out before you implement it at a larger scale or at the AHL, ECHL, NHL level. Todd: I have one more that's been suggested, I think by a few people, but I think would be an interesting to be part of this experiment as well. If the team that has is getting the penalty has a choice between being on the man advantage for two minutes or taking a penalty shot. Josh: That's an interesting one. You know, we've, we've seen that come up before in discussions on especially late in game situations. Should it be a power play? Should it be a penalty shot? Todd: Right. Josh:  In the past you look at penalty shot, success rate versus power play success rate and it's not that far off. I mean we've we've seen maybe the penalty shots are a little bit higher, but statistically speaking it's not a huge difference where you see a big swing there, I think it'd be interesting to give teams that option, especially when you've got the full 2 minutes because now. Do you want 2 minutes on the power play where you can score multiple times, or do you want one shot at a breakaway? In this situation, you know if you're trailing in the game, maybe that 2 minutes is valuable and you you'd rather have the penalty shot. Or maybe the opposite is true and you just wanna kill time off the clock and you'd rather have the two-minute power play. I think that'd be an interesting strategy driver there, too, Todd, on how do you approach it because now you've got a power play that could result in multiple goals, or you get to take the penalty shot, which is only one – uses no time on the clock – but do you think your team has a better chance on the penalty shot than on the power play? Interesting dynamic there. Another one where I think it takes time. You you'd have to put that in and coaches would figure out how best to make it work for their team. You know, if you're the Edmonton Oilers this past season, you're taking the power play every time. Some teams with limited success or with a really strong breakaway scoring player there, you might want to take the penalty shot and I think that it just changes things up from a strategy standpoint. Todd: Now you mentioned the downfall.  Coaches ruin everything.   Thanks for listening… or reading. Please like, share, and subscribe to the Scouting the Refs Podcast wherever you get your podcasts:  

PromEvil takes you to that most horrifying of places - HIGH SCHOOL.  On prom night, naturally.  And something horrible is about to come out of the woodshop, and we don't mean Hal in his school mascot costume.... A lot of people put their heart and soul into producing this memorable event: STUDENTS Hal - Mathias Rebne-Morgan Lyn - Molly Tollefson Todd - Eli Nilsson Gee - Melissa Bartell Barb - Beverly Poole Andy - Mike Campbell Bud - Jasper Loovis Tina - Chandra Wade Missy - Jade Thomson Jake - Michael Faigenblum other students - Sky Iolta, Shelbi MacIntyre, Henry Mark FACULTY Principal Peabody - Reynaud LeBoeuf Mr. Ervin Carpel, Woodshop - Gene Thorkildsen Ms. Angela Wellesly, Crafts - Gwendolyn Jensen-Woodard Mrs. Snodgrass, Lunchroom - Robyn Keyes P.A. Announcements - Julie Hoverson Rent-a-cop Bob - The Caretaker OTHERS Cop 1 - Glen Hallstrom Cop 2 - Joel Harvey 911 Voice - Julie Hoverson STAFF Writer - Julie Hoverson Doll Wranglers - Julie Hoverson, Kimberly Poole (Warp'd Space) Sound and Mastering - Julie Hoverson Stock sound effects - Soundsnap.com; sonomic.com Music - Prom - Sinkhole Music - background - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) _______________________________________________________________________ Prom Evil - Part 1 MUSIC AMB            BUSY HIGH SCHOOL HALLWAY P.A. VOICE     Don't forget! It's your last chance to pick up those prom tickets!  Show your Polk high Spirit!  Polky says - don't drink and drive! AMB            FADE IN ON WOOD SHOP SOUND          HEAVY DISTINCTIVE TICKING CLOCK IN THE WOOD SHOP CARPEL         [off] All right, um, kids.  Let's start finishing up-- BUD            You up for prom tonight? HAL            Gotta be there.  School spirit and all. BUD            Ew, Hal, you're not bringing ..."IT"? HAL            It's my job, Bud.  Polky lives. CARPEL         [off] Let's get everything put-- SOUND          BELL RINGS SOUND          CLATTER OF STUFF JUST BEING LEFT ON TABLES CARPEL         --Away. [sigh] SOUND          MASS EXODUS HAL            Bud!  Dude! [exasperated noise] SOUND          GATHERS UP TOOLS SOUND          KNOCK ON DOORFRAME TODD           Mr. Carpel? SOUND          SLAMMING BRIEFCASE SHUT CARPEL         [ow!]  Damn! [composing himself] This... it's my break, Todd. TODD           I just wanted to see... her. SOUND          TAP ON GLASS CABINET TODD           [almost silent] Hi! CARPEL         Todd! TODD           She--  They can come home soon, right?  CARPEL         After tonight, they can do...I mean, YOU...can...do whatever you want with them.  ... Her.  It. SOUND          SCRABBLE OF FEET CARPEL         Go on now.  I'm not...done... grading.  Scoot scoot. TODD           Right.  [almost silent] Bye! SOUND          FEET CARPEL         [sigh of relief] HAL            [clears his throat] CARPEL         [startled] Ahh! HAL            Sorry.  I was just putting away... CARPEL         Of course, of course.  Go on now. HAL            Right.  They're really pretty great, you have to admit. CARPEL         What?  HAL            The carvings.  SOUND          LIGHT TAP ON GLASS HAL            I woulda gone for it, but I don't have the patience.  Or the carving skillz-- CARPEL         Right, right - just please-- HAL            Got it!  Evaporate. SOUND          FEET, DOOR SLAMS CARPEL         [sigh, of extreme relief] MUSIC AMB            HALLWAY SOUND          LOCKER CLOSES LYN            [sigh] OK, nothing happens.  Surprise! BARB           It's coming.  What?  You're all hot to go study?  It's party night, Lyn.  Loosen up. LYN            [sigh] A moment, then-- BARB           Jake!  You're SO late! LYN            Huh? Jake--? BARB           Mmm.  Come here! SOUND          LONG SMOOCHING LYN            But, Barb--!  Barb!  Barb? SOUND          SMOOCHING ENDS JAKE           [catching his breath] Hey.  So, What's the deal? BARB           This is my cousin, Lyn. LYN            [panicky] uh, yeah. JAKE           Hey, Lyn.  I-- BARB           [sudden rush] I was telling her all about you, and she's just [as if she's looking for something] ...dying ...to meet ...you.  [angry sigh]  [shrill] Anyway.  She doesn't have a date for tonight, so I-- ANDY           [coming in] Whoa.  What the hell's up? BARB           Aha!  Jake?  You know Andy. JAKE           [chuckle] LYN            [this is ugly] Ohh! ANDY           What's up with this?  What-- BARB           I meant to tell you earlier, Andy, but you weren't picking up-- ANDY           I don't got my cell on me at practice-- BARB           [flippant] Andy... it's over-- ANDY           Over?  It's not over until-- JAKE           Oh yeah? BARB           So you'll have to find yourself a new "bunny".  Right Jake? ANDY           You bitch!  You said-- BARB           For prom. ANDY           But, Prom's TONIGHT! BARB           Sorry.  [she's not]  Not my problem.  Come on, stud muffins. JAKE           [chuckles] SOUND          THEY START TO WALK AWAY LYN            [rueful] Barb.  Jeez. BARB           [over her shoulder] Lyn's free tonight. LYN            [gasp!] ANDY           [to himself] Fine! [to Lyn, muttered] I got tickets, wanna go? LYN            I'm really sorry she-- ANDY           C'mon...don't make me waste 'em. LYN            [tsks]  Fine. ANDY           See you in the gym?  Gotta get back to the field. SOUND          HE TROTS OFF LYN            Right.  Bye. GEE            [coming on, whispering] Extra, extra - read all about it.  Dumped jock falls for head of debate team. LYN            I've already had my heart attack for the day, thanks, Gee. GEE            No hearts were injured in the filming of this-- LYN            I don't even have a dress. GEE            [mock serious]  Wanna shock everyone?  You could be my date.  [goofy kissy noise] LYN            [laughs] SOUND          BELL RINGS, THEY START DASHING LYN            Come on!  [hustling] Barb'll have a plan. GEE            [keeping up] Oh, yeah.  That'll be good. MUSIC SOUND          BELL RINGS SOUND          STUDENTS POUR OUT - END OF DAY SOUND          LOCKERS BEING OPENED STUDENTS       [conversations about the prom tonight] SOUND          DOOR CREAKS OPEN CARPEL         Oh, um... [hoarse] Miss, um, Francis! [clears his throat]  Miss Francis! MISSY          Yes?  Something I can do for you, Mr. Carpel? ["CAR-pull"] CARPEL         [irritable, automatic] That's Carpel. ["car-PELL"]  [clears his throat again]  I, um, I could use some advice...  Could you step in for a moment? MISSY          [unsuspecting] Um, sure.  What do you need? CARPEL         [lying] I have this niece, and it's her birthday, and I want a, um, well, a young woman's opinion of the present I bought for her.  It will just take a moment, um, if you can spare the time? MISSY          [indulgently] Oh, sure. MUSIC AMB            OUTSIDE, STUDENTS, TRAFFIC, ETC. STUDENTS       [lots of chatter about prom] BUD            Life's almost over...what do you plan to do once YOU graduate? HAL            Not a clue.  Dad says I've got-- [apes dad's voice] ..."no ambition, no drive."  I guess he's right.  I just don't have a burning desire to DO anything with my life... [LYN AND BARB PASS BY - FADING IN AND THEN OUT] BARB           --taffeta underskirt - but not too long, you know?  I was all like, how can I possibly dance in that?  LYN            I don't dance. BARB           Let me finish!  Sides, I want to show off the adorable prada pumps-- HAL            [heavy sigh] Except... BUD            [Following the look] Ex-cept?  Still got the hots for that brain? HAL            She's not a brain, just smart..."Brains" look down on the rest of us, and Lyn...she can be really nice.  Not like the barbies you date. BUD            Nothing wrong with dumb girls‑‑ HAL            Takes one to know one. MUSIC AMB            WOOD SHOP MISSY          Ooh!  Is this what the woodcarving class has been working on!  Wow!  Look at her teensy little hands! SOUND          TAP ON GLASS CARPEL         [getting more and more nervous] Ahem.  It's just over here, Missy. MISSY          Oh, right! SOUND          PAPER GIFT BAG FULL OF TISSUE SET ON DESK CARPEL         I hope this is something a... young lady would like. MISSY          Let's see. SOUND          BAG RUSTLES SOUND          SOMETHING PICKED UP ON WORKBENCH MISSY          What is it? SOUND          RUMMAGING IN TISSUE SOUND          HAMMER BROUGHT DOWN ON HER HEAD. MISSY          Oohhhhh! SOUND          BODY DROP SOUND          FEET RUN TO DOOR, LOCK IT CARPEL         [breathing heavily, panicky] MUSIC AMB            OUTSIDE BUD            Ask her. HAL            Nah.  Polky goes stag. BUD            Buy a clue, Hal...school mascot never gets laid.  'sides, running around as a big purple - what the hell is Polky, anyway? HAL            Polky is the Polk high polka-dot. BUD            Ri-i-ight.  Well...let's just say it ain't gonna get you a job. HAL            Scoff all you want.  If I work real hard, someday I could be a giant cell phone at the mall. BUD            Hark!  The wolverine has left the lamb unguarded-- HAL            Barb's gone?  Where? BUD            She probably went to pee on some poor guy.  Mark her territory-- HAL            [speculative] Maybe I will.... [grunts as he gets up, then fading]  What's the worst that could happen? SOUND          CREAK OF BACKPACK MUSIC AMB            WOODSHOP CARPEL         [still wheezing] SOUND          ASTHMA INHALER CARPEL         [Deep breath, then an exaggerated one]  Clear the mind.  [half another breath, cuts off with]  Oh, crap!  Clear the desk! SOUND          EVERYTHING BEING SWEPT OFF THE DESK MISSY          [groan, hit by something] CARPEL         Oh no!  No, no! Come here, you!  [grunts as he gets a grip on her] MISSY          [groans again] CARPEL         And U-U-U-U-U-P! [grunts] SOUND          THUMPS [humorous bit, with him trying to get her onto the desk, finally] CARPEL         [breathing heavily] MISSY          [groans] CARPEL         [whispering, afraid to wake her]  no!  Nononono!  Stay down!  [a moment of breathing]  Good.  [a demented whisper of a chuckle] SOUND          ROPE BEING UNROLLED CARPEL         [to self] need about... hmm...  three yards for the feet, and-- SOUND          KNOCK AT THE DOOR CARPEL         [startled to death] Ahh! SOUND          EVERYTHING DROPS, ENDING WITH A GOOFY CLATTER TODD           [off] Mr. Carpel?  Um, are you there? SOUND          DOORKNOB RATTLES SOUND          ROPE MOVES AGAIN, BEGINS TO BE KNOTTED CARPEL         [barely able to breath] Go away, Todd.  I'm busy.  Come back tomorrow. MISSY          [groans] CARPEL         [frustrated noise!] TODD           [off] I just wanted to...to check on my project. SOUND          KNOT TIED TIGHTLY CARPEL         You got an A.  Now go away! TODD           [off] I...um...Well, all right. SOUND          SECOND KNOT CREAKS MISSY          [sharp moan] CARPEL         [muttered] Better not hit her again...  a gag!  Yes, um... oh, no that's filthy... um... [catches himself and starts to laugh hysterically]  MISSY          [moans] CARPEL         [worried noise] Ahh! SOUND          TISSUE PAPER GRABBED AND SHOVED INTO MOUTH CARPEL         That should do it.  Now. SOUND          BOOK CREAKS OPEN, PAGES FLIP CARPEL         Right. SOUND          FUMBLING WITH GLASSES CARPEL         [reading from a list] Five black candles check.  Oil.  Salt.  Knife, oh yes. SOUND          PULLS THE THINGS OUT AS HE NAMES THEM, SETS KNIFE DOWN, AND IT CLATTERS TO THE FLOOR. MUSIC AMB            OUTSIDE HAL            [to self] Um, hi Lyn!  No.  [mister slick] "Hey. Prom?  Yeah."  No.  Uh!  [grunt as he's shoved aside] BARB           [disparaging noise] Walk much?  [to Lyn] It's all arranged. LYN            How could you--? BARB           What?  So I helped you.  Have a cow. LYN            HELPED me?  You-- BARB           Selflessly gave you my ex‑.  Isn't there an award for that?  Oh, get that out of my face! GEE            What?  Oh, sorry, right, if you cross a witch with your shadow, she loses her power over you. SOUND          UMBRELLA COLLAPSES BARB           What-ever.  Lyn.  Walk. HAL            Oh, darnit.  SOUND          [OFF] UMBRELLA UP AGAIN HAL            Aah! GEE            Oh, jeez!  Sorry! HAL            No.. no worries. [defeated sigh] GEE            [tsks merrily] LYN            But you...like...Andy? BARB           Of course I do.  This is just for tonight. GEE            [catching up] Let me guess.  You fixed him up with Lyn so he wouldn't get snatched up by someone more like...hmm...You? ...at prom. BARB           [snide] Coming from someone who carries a black umbrella and only dates on-line. GEE            It's a parasol, and I'll still have a complexion when I'm 40! BARB           Oh, yeah?  That white makeup will suck all your vitamin D! GEE            Lizard neck! LYN            Gee, leave off, OK? GEE            [exasperated sigh] BARB           [muttered] Little "Bite-Me Barbie". LYN            You leave off too. MUSIC AMB            WOOD SHOP SOUND          HEAVY CANDLE SET DOWN CARPEL         Five.  Lit counterclockwise, um... SOUND          CLOCK TICKS FOR A MINUTE CARPEL         Right. MISSY          [moans, then starts to wake, tries to scream around the tissue] CARPEL         [more whiny than scary]  I'll hit you again if I have to.  SOUND          TURNS A PAGE CARPEL         Circle of chicken blood.  SOUND          LID UNSCREWS ON PLASTIC BOTTLE, RATTLES AWAY MISSY          [SCREAMS AROUND THE PAPER] MUSIC AMB            OUTSIDE SOUND          HAL DROPS HIS PACK, THEN SITS HAL            Psyche 101. [grunts as he sits] BUD            What? HAL            Psyche 101...I could be a shrink, right? BUD            Yeah, right. HAL            Maybe I could specialize in abnormal psychology...you could be my first case study. BUD            Or him. TODD           [muttering] I just wanted to see her, and give her this heart - it's just the right size-- SOUND          RATTLE OF TINY NECKLACE CHAIN BUD            The resident wood shop mad genius? BOB            [calling from off] Ooh, it's Todd...hey, did Barbie ever return your calls? FRED           [calling from off] Maybe he's taking Chatty Kathy to the dance tonight. BOB            [calling from off] A blow-up doll'd be a better choice, Todd...at least then you'd have a chance of getting a little. TODD           [still muttered] Laurel's not a doll, she's a statue.  She's ART. GEE            Leave off, you scrotes. FRED           I vanda suckya blood! GEE            You wouldn't know what to DO with my blood.  MUSIC AMB            WOOD SHOP SOUND          LIQUID POURING onto floor CARPEL         [chanting] MISSY          [moaning] SOUND          ROPES CREAK AS SHE STRUGGLES MUSIC TODD           [muttering] Laurel is perfect.  I made her that way, and she understands me--[gasp] SOUND          THUD AS HE RUNS INTO BARB BARB           [uh!] Dweeb.  Get some glasses. [back to Lyn] I'll even get you a dress.  It won't be Vogue, but... SOUND          CELL PHONE BEING DIALED LYN            [weakening] But I don't want a dress.  I really ...Barb...I don't like this. BARB           No problem, really. LYN            But-- BARB           I'd loan you one of mine, but it wouldn't fit.  Like a basketball hoop catching tennis balls. LYN            [very uncomfortable noise]  Umm.  BARB           Jeez.  Missy's not picking up.  Wonder who she's doing? MUSIC AMB            WOOD SHOP SOUND          SCRAPE OF KNIFE BEING PICKED UP CARPEL         CHANTING SOUND          CELL PHONE MUSIC SOUND          KNIFE CLATTERS TO THE FLOOR CARPEL         What the--?  Oh, heavens! SOUND          RUMMAGING THROUGH HER PURSE, VARIOUS THINGS TOSSED ONTO FLOOR, SOMETHING SQUEAKS AS IT HITS SOUND          FINALLY FINDS PHONE, PUSHES BUTTONS, BUT NOTHING WILL STOPS IT, FINALLY THROWS IT AGAINST WALL AND STOMPS ON IT SOUND          PHONE DIES SOUND          ASTHMA INHALER MUSIC AMB            OUTSIDE LYN            All right!  I'll...I can borrow a dress from Jean...we wear the same size. BARB           Your little sister?  She's a baby, how could she have a decent dress? LYN            Who else is my mom gonna dress up?  Me? MUSIC WOOD SHOP CARPEL CHANTS AGAIN SOUND          BOOK CREAKS OPEN SOUND          KNIFE PICKED UP OFF FLOOR WITH SCRAPE MISSY          [struggling weakly] SOUND          SUDDENLY, LUNGES, PLUNGES KNIFE INTO MISSY WITH HORRIBLE SQUISHY NOISE.  GRINDS IT AROUND A BIT, MAKING SURE SHE'S DEAD MISSY          [death rattle] CARPEL         [breathing heavily]   SOUND          WIPES SWEAT OFF HIS FACE, THEN REACTS AS HE REALIZES HE JUST SMEARED BLOOD ALL OVER HIMSELF. CARPEL         gah!! SOUND          DASH TO SINK, RUNS WATER MUSIC AMB            OUTSIDE, BUT AWAY FROM PEOPLE TODD           [muttering to self] I spent so much time carving her.  I know the project called for raw wood, no paint, but now that they're graded and everything, there's nothing wrong with a little embellishment. SOUND          DELICATE NECKLACE CHAIN TODD           Gold will suit her dark grain.  Oh Laurel! MUSIC AMB            WOOD SHOP SOUND          TAPS TURNED OFF SOUND          DRIPPING CARPEL         Right.  The blood.  SOUND          METAL BOWL OUT OF BAG, CATCHES DRIPS CARPEL         Almost done now.  [ecstatic]  And then they'll see!  They'll all see! SOUND          DRIPPING SLOWS CARPEL         No, no, I need more....  I think I need more!  Oh!  Here. SOUND          CUTS A ROPE, ROLLS BODY ONTO ITS SIDE SOUND          GUSHY NOISES, MORE DRIPPING CARPEL         There we go!  That's about enough.  SOUND          DRIPPING CONTINUES, BODY FLOPS CARPEL         Enough!  SOUND          SHOVE BODY, IT ROLLS WITH A GUSHY NOISE CARPEL         Sorry about that, Missy, but it had to be done.  I wish you'd just stayed unconscious.  Wouldn't have been so awful for you. SOUND          SETS DOWN SLOSHY BOWL SOUND          OPENS GLASS DOOR OF CASE CARPEL         [chanting again] SOUND          PICKS UP BOWL SOUND          LIQUID BEING POURED MUSIC AMB            GYM [EVERYTHING ECHOES] SOUND          SOUND CHECK IN BACKGROUND SOUND          QUICK STRIDES ACROSS WOOD FLOOR HAL            --it's in the band locker.  You gotta let me in. PEABODY        [over his shoulder] The school is locked up for the night.  Besides, the old one's in the drama loft...use it. HAL            But it's a piece of crap!  The foam rubber's all gone to dust...you can't even breathe in the darn thing. PEABODY        You only have to wear it during the announcements.  Surely you weren't planning to parade around in the ludicrous mascot costume all night? HAL            [clearly disappointed] Guess not. PEABODY        Quickly, then... MUSIC CARPEL         [The chant ends.] SOUND          CREAKING OF WOOD [NOTE]         ESTABLISH THE DISTINCTIVE SOUND OF EACH OF THE DOLLS - LAUREL, ahhhh noises; LEDERHOSEN GUY, EVIL CHUCKLE; MONKEYHEAD, SCREECHES; SURFER DUDE, LONG DUH; AND THE MAJORETTE, RHYTHMIC CLICKING SOUNDS. CARPEL         It worked!  They live! MUSIC AMB            GYM SOUND          LIQUID POURING SOUND          FEET ON STEP LADDER ANGELA         Hand me the tape, Marge? SNODGRASS      Do I look like someone with three hands? ANGELA         [to herself] No, you look like a shaved bulldog in a safety orange muumuu. SOUND          POURING STOPS SNODGRASS      Huh? ANGELA         [covering] Just admiring your dress! SNODGRASS      [taking it seriously]   It ain't just anybody can wear this color.  You were looking for tape? MUSIC SOUND          TAPPING OF DOLL FEET AS THEY CLIMB DOWN CARPEL         You are mine!  My servants!  My revenge! SOUND          WOODEN FEET AS THEY HOP DOWN LEDERHOSEN GUY EVIL CHUCKLE SOUND          MOVED QUICKLY TOWARD CARPEL CARPEL         No!  No!  Not me!  You're supposed to obey me!  Stop! SOUND          PAGING THROUGH BOOK CARPEL         Obey me!  You're my minions! SOUND          THE DOLLS ATTACK.  TRIP CARPEL, PUMMEL HIM. CARPEL         What are you doing with that awl!  You could put an eye out-- [ahh!  Gurgle, whiny death noises] SOUND          FUTILE POUNDING OF TINY FISTS ON LOCKED DOOR END OF PART 1

Todd: So, Anthony we're talking about bitcoin. Now you've invested in bitcoin before?Anthony: Yeah, yeah, a bit.Todd: Do you still invest a lot now?Anthony: I haven't recently.Todd: Okay, so why did you stop?Anthony: I stopped because I was getting a little anxious about seeing my portfolio swing up and down by 5, 6, 7 thousand dollars in a day. I kind of decided that I would take out the money that I invested in it and just let my profits ride, basically.Todd: Right, so basically originally then, you were using bitcoin for speculative purposes. Not to actually buy things. You weren't using it as a means to actually make transactions.Anthony: That is correct. I've only bought one thing with bitcoin, and that was, it's called a hardware wallet, which is basically, it looks like a USB stick, but it's a way to secure your funds.Todd: Do you think that in the future we will have people using bitcoins more, like it's going to become a viable alternative to actually, for commerce to pay for things?Anthony: Yeah, that's a good question. I don't think bitcoin will be what we all use, but it's definitely, in my opinion, the archetype for what is coming.Todd: It's the pioneer.Anthony: Yes, the pioneering technology. There's going to be something that is similar to bitcoin that we use as a digital payment system.Todd: Yeah, so a lot of people are freaked out about bitcoin. What are some reasons people are skeptical against it?Anthony: That's a good question. One question that I've been asked before is, who controls it? Everyone always wants to know who's in charge. Right. Who's the CEO? Right? Because we're so conditioned to this kind of system, but that is the thing. It's kind of scary for some people, but there is no control over it. It's a program at the end of the day. And there's no governing body. There's no government organization that really has a say. I mean governments, specific governments, will try to regulate the markets to a certain extent. But at the end of the day, the power is in the hands of the people that use it, really. And as long as people use it there will be some kind of value to it. Just as long as we use paper money, there's value to it. As long as it's exchanged, right?Todd: Right. And some people have made some good points. For example, nobody foresaw the use of ecommerce or smart phones, or social media. But these things adopted and ramped up quickly. So, do you think this could happen with these crypto technologies?Anthony: I think-Todd: Is that the right way to say it? Crypto technologies.Anthony: Cryptocurrencies.Todd: Cryptocurrencies.Anthony: Or block chain technologies.Todd: Block chain technology, okay.Anthony: I think it's very rapid right now. It's kind of becoming a household word. Whereas, when I first got into it, if I talked to someone about bitcoin, they would look at me like I was crazy. They would look at me like I had a hole in my face or something. But now people know. Even older people who aren't really so in touch with technology, know what it is or have at least heard about it.Anthony: I think the biggest hurdle to mass adoptions is as it stands now, it takes a lot of knowledge and a lot of know-how in order to safely, because the reason why I say safely, is because if you're dealing with bitcoin, you're in charge of securing your funds. So, if someone hacks into your funds, or something, then it's your fault. You don't have anyone to blame. Where as if you have your money in a bank-Todd: You can't call customer service.Anthony: Exactly. You can't call customer service, so there's a big hurdel as far as the knowledge you need to safely and effectively maneuver in that space. So I think until some second party or third party comes about and makes it more user-friendly, I don't really think it's going to be ready to really take over until that happens. Either more people need to be educated and know how to use it and how to purchase it and how to store it, etc. Or there needs to be some huge company that going to say, "Look, we'll manage it for you. You just need this app, or something." I don't know, something like that.Todd: Yeah, it's going to be interesting in the crossover. They always say be careful what you wish for, you might just get it. If bitcoin or some crypto-Anthony: CurrencyTodd: Currency becomes the primary source of transactions, I think a lot of the ills and the dodgy stuff we have with banks, will seep into it. It'll be interesting if they could keep it out. If you know what I mean. But one thing that's interesting about the currencies is that, I think a lot of old people will go for it. I think a lot of old people usually are hesitant about technology and change, but the thing, they have a lot of money that they're sitting on, usually, older people. They also don't trust the government. They've been around a long time and so I think these cryptocurrencies are going to be very attractive to a lot of tech un-savvy people. What do you think about that?Anthony: I think you have a point. I think that probably more so than young people have money to invest, but I think that's, like I said before, I've spent so many hours reading about these kinds of technologies and just really obsessing over it, and I still feel like there's so much I don't know. So.Todd: Well, I guess we all got to learn.Anthony: Yeah. Alright.

Todd: So, Anthony we're talking about bitcoin. Now you've invested in bitcoin before?Anthony: Yeah, yeah, a bit.Todd: Do you still invest a lot now?Anthony: I haven't recently.Todd: Okay, so why did you stop?Anthony: I stopped because I was getting a little anxious about seeing my portfolio swing up and down by 5, 6, 7 thousand dollars in a day. I kind of decided that I would take out the money that I invested in it and just let my profits ride, basically.Todd: Right, so basically originally then, you were using bitcoin for speculative purposes. Not to actually buy things. You weren't using it as a means to actually make transactions.Anthony: That is correct. I've only bought one thing with bitcoin, and that was, it's called a hardware wallet, which is basically, it looks like a USB stick, but it's a way to secure your funds.Todd: Do you think that in the future we will have people using bitcoins more, like it's going to become a viable alternative to actually, for commerce to pay for things?Anthony: Yeah, that's a good question. I don't think bitcoin will be what we all use, but it's definitely, in my opinion, the archetype for what is coming.Todd: It's the pioneer.Anthony: Yes, the pioneering technology. There's going to be something that is similar to bitcoin that we use as a digital payment system.Todd: Yeah, so a lot of people are freaked out about bitcoin. What are some reasons people are skeptical against it?Anthony: That's a good question. One question that I've been asked before is, who controls it? Everyone always wants to know who's in charge. Right. Who's the CEO? Right? Because we're so conditioned to this kind of system, but that is the thing. It's kind of scary for some people, but there is no control over it. It's a program at the end of the day. And there's no governing body. There's no government organization that really has a say. I mean governments, specific governments, will try to regulate the markets to a certain extent. But at the end of the day, the power is in the hands of the people that use it, really. And as long as people use it there will be some kind of value to it. Just as long as we use paper money, there's value to it. As long as it's exchanged, right?Todd: Right. And some people have made some good points. For example, nobody foresaw the use of ecommerce or smart phones, or social media. But these things adopted and ramped up quickly. So, do you think this could happen with these crypto technologies?Anthony: I think-Todd: Is that the right way to say it? Crypto technologies.Anthony: Cryptocurrencies.Todd: Cryptocurrencies.Anthony: Or block chain technologies.Todd: Block chain technology, okay.Anthony: I think it's very rapid right now. It's kind of becoming a household word. Whereas, when I first got into it, if I talked to someone about bitcoin, they would look at me like I was crazy. They would look at me like I had a hole in my face or something. But now people know. Even older people who aren't really so in touch with technology, know what it is or have at least heard about it.Anthony: I think the biggest hurdle to mass adoptions is as it stands now, it takes a lot of knowledge and a lot of know-how in order to safely, because the reason why I say safely, is because if you're dealing with bitcoin, you're in charge of securing your funds. So, if someone hacks into your funds, or something, then it's your fault. You don't have anyone to blame. Where as if you have your money in a bank-Todd: You can't call customer service.Anthony: Exactly. You can't call customer service, so there's a big hurdel as far as the knowledge you need to safely and effectively maneuver in that space. So I think until some second party or third party comes about and makes it more user-friendly, I don't really think it's going to be ready to really take over until that happens. Either more people need to be educated and know how to use it and how to purchase it and how to store it, etc. Or there needs to be some huge company that going to say, "Look, we'll manage it for you. You just need this app, or something." I don't know, something like that.Todd: Yeah, it's going to be interesting in the crossover. They always say be careful what you wish for, you might just get it. If bitcoin or some crypto-Anthony: CurrencyTodd: Currency becomes the primary source of transactions, I think a lot of the ills and the dodgy stuff we have with banks, will seep into it. It'll be interesting if they could keep it out. If you know what I mean. But one thing that's interesting about the currencies is that, I think a lot of old people will go for it. I think a lot of old people usually are hesitant about technology and change, but the thing, they have a lot of money that they're sitting on, usually, older people. They also don't trust the government. They've been around a long time and so I think these cryptocurrencies are going to be very attractive to a lot of tech un-savvy people. What do you think about that?Anthony: I think you have a point. I think that probably more so than young people have money to invest, but I think that's, like I said before, I've spent so many hours reading about these kinds of technologies and just really obsessing over it, and I still feel like there's so much I don't know. So.Todd: Well, I guess we all got to learn.Anthony: Yeah. Alright.

Todd: So, I'm here with Jerri, and she's Thai, and we are in Bangkok. And we are going to talk about fashion. So, Jerri, Bangkok is a very, very fashion-conscious city.Jerri: Yes, absolutely.Todd: Shopping is huge here. So, let's talk about prices. So, first we'll talk about jeans. You are wearing jeans today. So, how much are an expensive pair of jeans in Bangkok?Jerri: Well, that's funny that you ask because the price range for clothes here is quite wide, so you can go from 200 baht - Thai baht - for a pair of jeans up to 4000 Thai baht for a pair of jeans in a, like a, like, one of the top brands.Todd: Wow. So, just so people know, 200 baht would be - in U.S. dollar that's about six dollars. And 4000 baht would be about 130 dollars.Jerri: Yes. Yeah.Todd: Wow.Jerri: So, it's quite a, quite a difference there. But I would say that generally it will be in the range of 500 to 2000 Thai baht.Todd: Okay. 500 to 2000. That's still pretty a wide gap.Jerri: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.Todd: Okay, cool. So those are jeans. What about, for women, a blouse?Jerri: A blouse? I would say...for, like, a nice quality one, like, 500 Thai baht.Todd: Okay. That's not bad.Jerri: Yeah. That's alright.Todd: Fifteen dollars, about. Okay. What's the most you would pay for a blouse?Jerri: No more than 1000 Thai baht.Todd: Okay.Jerri: Yeah.Todd: That's your, that's - what about the cheapest?Jerri: The cheapest? Like, 300 Thai baht. Like, if you started going lower than 300 Thai baht, then you have to accept that the, you know, the quality - you might get to wear it not more than three times.Todd: Okay.Jerri: So, that's the price you pay.Todd: Nice, alright. So, what about shoes?Jerri: Shoes? It's - it also depends on where you go. So, Chatuchak market is known for affordable clothes, so the shoes there would be from 200 Thai baht to 500 Thai baht. But if you visit the more well-known stores and the department stores, then they can be from 500 Thai baht to 1000 Thai baht.Todd: Okay, that's interesting. So, you mentioned Jatujak market - can you kind of talk about Jatujak market?Jerri: Yes, so, this is one of the main activities for tourists to do when they visit Bangkok. It's a weekend market, so it's only open on Saturdays and Sundays. It's quite crowded, but it's definitely something you should do. There's a lot of souvenir stores, a lot of local shops, and, yeah, a place to shop for clothes. And it's not just for tourists, you also see a lot of Thais go there because all the stores there are reasonable - reasonably priced and they're quite trendy. Yeah, they have, like, different styles...stores that you won't find anywhere else.Todd: Right. Oh, yeah, I've been there a couple of times. It's massive. It's really, really big.Jerri: Yeah, it's massive. It takes about half a day to do the entire thing.Todd: It's easy to get lost right?Jerri: Yes.Todd: If you go inside, you kind of don't know where you are.Jerri: Exactly, exactly. Which I guess is also the fun part of it. It's like an adventure in itself, right?Todd: Right, exactly. Okay, so, what about things like, like belts or, you know, like accessories?Jerri: I would recommend going to Platinum Mall. This mall is located near Siam BTS station. It's known for its accessories that are, like, reasonably priced. So, at that - at Platinum Mall accessories can be from two - 100 Thai baht to not more than 1000 Thai baht, but usually in the range of 100 to 500 Thai baht.Todd: Okay. Oh, wow.Jerri: Yeah. But there's a whole floor, like, two floors that's dedicated to accessories. So, you can find necklaces, sunglasses, rings, earrings, about ten shops for each category, yes.Todd: Oh, that's fantastic. So, Bangkok's quite interesting because it has so many different ways. You can buy things on the street...Jerri: Yes.Todd: You can buy things at the markets. You can buy things at the nice, air-conditioned malls.Jerri: Yeah.Todd: Yeah. What about online? Do you Thais shop online very much?Jerri: Yeah. Online - online shops are becoming more and more popular now because it's quite convenient. You just get it delivered to you. Yeah, there's a lot of - a lot of more fashion brands that are online. On Instagram, for example. Yeah, so it's becoming a thing.Todd: Oh, cool. Alright, thanks, Jerri.Jerri: You're welcome.

Todd: So, I'm here with Jerri, and she's Thai, and we are in Bangkok. And we are going to talk about fashion. So, Jerri, Bangkok is a very, very fashion-conscious city.Jerri: Yes, absolutely.Todd: Shopping is huge here. So, let's talk about prices. So, first we'll talk about jeans. You are wearing jeans today. So, how much are an expensive pair of jeans in Bangkok?Jerri: Well, that's funny that you ask because the price range for clothes here is quite wide, so you can go from 200 baht - Thai baht - for a pair of jeans up to 4000 Thai baht for a pair of jeans in a, like a, like, one of the top brands.Todd: Wow. So, just so people know, 200 baht would be - in U.S. dollar that's about six dollars. And 4000 baht would be about 130 dollars.Jerri: Yes. Yeah.Todd: Wow.Jerri: So, it's quite a, quite a difference there. But I would say that generally it will be in the range of 500 to 2000 Thai baht.Todd: Okay. 500 to 2000. That's still pretty a wide gap.Jerri: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.Todd: Okay, cool. So those are jeans. What about, for women, a blouse?Jerri: A blouse? I would say...for, like, a nice quality one, like, 500 Thai baht.Todd: Okay. That's not bad.Jerri: Yeah. That's alright.Todd: Fifteen dollars, about. Okay. What's the most you would pay for a blouse?Jerri: No more than 1000 Thai baht.Todd: Okay.Jerri: Yeah.Todd: That's your, that's - what about the cheapest?Jerri: The cheapest? Like, 300 Thai baht. Like, if you started going lower than 300 Thai baht, then you have to accept that the, you know, the quality - you might get to wear it not more than three times.Todd: Okay.Jerri: So, that's the price you pay.Todd: Nice, alright. So, what about shoes?Jerri: Shoes? It's - it also depends on where you go. So, Chatuchak market is known for affordable clothes, so the shoes there would be from 200 Thai baht to 500 Thai baht. But if you visit the more well-known stores and the department stores, then they can be from 500 Thai baht to 1000 Thai baht.Todd: Okay, that's interesting. So, you mentioned Jatujak market - can you kind of talk about Jatujak market?Jerri: Yes, so, this is one of the main activities for tourists to do when they visit Bangkok. It's a weekend market, so it's only open on Saturdays and Sundays. It's quite crowded, but it's definitely something you should do. There's a lot of souvenir stores, a lot of local shops, and, yeah, a place to shop for clothes. And it's not just for tourists, you also see a lot of Thais go there because all the stores there are reasonable - reasonably priced and they're quite trendy. Yeah, they have, like, different styles...stores that you won't find anywhere else.Todd: Right. Oh, yeah, I've been there a couple of times. It's massive. It's really, really big.Jerri: Yeah, it's massive. It takes about half a day to do the entire thing.Todd: It's easy to get lost right?Jerri: Yes.Todd: If you go inside, you kind of don't know where you are.Jerri: Exactly, exactly. Which I guess is also the fun part of it. It's like an adventure in itself, right?Todd: Right, exactly. Okay, so, what about things like, like belts or, you know, like accessories?Jerri: I would recommend going to Platinum Mall. This mall is located near Siam BTS station. It's known for its accessories that are, like, reasonably priced. So, at that - at Platinum Mall accessories can be from two - 100 Thai baht to not more than 1000 Thai baht, but usually in the range of 100 to 500 Thai baht.Todd: Okay. Oh, wow.Jerri: Yeah. But there's a whole floor, like, two floors that's dedicated to accessories. So, you can find necklaces, sunglasses, rings, earrings, about ten shops for each category, yes.Todd: Oh, that's fantastic. So, Bangkok's quite interesting because it has so many different ways. You can buy things on the street...Jerri: Yes.Todd: You can buy things at the markets. You can buy things at the nice, air-conditioned malls.Jerri: Yeah.Todd: Yeah. What about online? Do you Thais shop online very much?Jerri: Yeah. Online - online shops are becoming more and more popular now because it's quite convenient. You just get it delivered to you. Yeah, there's a lot of - a lot of more fashion brands that are online. On Instagram, for example. Yeah, so it's becoming a thing.Todd: Oh, cool. Alright, thanks, Jerri.Jerri: You're welcome.

Todd: Another famous thing about Bangkok is the motorcycle taxis, which really freak a lot of the tourists out.Jerri: I'm sure, I'm sure.Todd: Like, they're afraid to get on one. Can you explain the motorcycle taxis, which are incredibly common?Jerri: Absolutely, so, it can get quite - it's quite scary but it's probably the fastest and most cost-effective way to get around Bangkok, especially during the rush hour. Motorbike - you know, there's like a lot of motorbike taxis in Bangkok and they're at different stations, so you can get them at the - at - right below the skytrain station, mostly. And, yeah, they know the streets very well. They know the - the - the fastest routes to get to your destination. And once you get familiar with it, it's actually not too bad as long as you ask for a helmet. I always think that that's - that is - 'cause it does get quite scary on the main roads with, like, a lot of...Todd: Yeah, women, a lot of times, sit in a very dangerous position...Jerri: Yeah, yeah.Todd: ...because of their skirt. They'll sit sideways...Jerri: Yeah.Todd: ...they don't sit with both legs on - with one leg on each side of the motorcycle, which I always find incredibly dangerous.Jerri: Yeah.Todd: Do you ever sit that way?Jerri: I have to admit, yeah, most of the time I sit that way. And it's quite, like - you don't realize it yourself but when people see it they're quite fascinated by it...Todd: Yeah.Jerri: ...like, how we can balance ourself...Todd: Yeah.Jerri: ...and then the motorbike is like swerving its way around.Todd: Right, exactly.Jerri: Yeah. Yeah.Todd: Another thing about the - maybe just explaining about the motorcycle taxis - is, so, Bangkok has really long streets. It's not a grid system.Jerri: No.Todd: It's kind of like the roots of a tree. Like, the roads will just go forever...Jerri: Right. Yes.Todd: ...in one direction. So, basically, people take the main lines, like the subway or overhead train, to their stop and then they take the motorcycle taxi to their home, correct?Todd: Yes, yes, correct. That's the most common way, yeah, to do it.Todd: Yeah. And in the mornings and in the evenings it's amazing 'cause it's, like, this fleet of motorcycle.Jerri: Yeah, yeah, yeah.Todd: Like, the whole street is just humming with motorcycles.Jerri: And then you realize how popular they are when you're standing at the station and there's no motorbikes left 'cause, you know, they're all being, yeah, being used.Todd: Yeah. So, like, in your - where you live, do you see the same motorcycle taxis every day?Jerri: Yes, yes.Todd: Do you know them by name?Jerri: Yes. So, like, even the one in front of where I work - they're, like, familiar face. They know where I live, and...Todd: Yeah.Jerri: ...they take me home every day. Yeah.Todd: Oh my God, that's so awesome. So, what about new things like Uber and Grab?Jerri: So, it's causing quite a bit of tension in Bangkok. As expected, you know the motorcycle taxis and the normal taxis are not so happy about the - this. But, yeah, I think with the election coming up, a lot of parties are trying to regulate it a little better because, currently, the main problem is that the Ubers and the Grab drivers are not legal to have passengers. They don't have the license. So, that's the main issue where - why the motorbike taxis are - and the - the normal taxi drivers are quite fed up about.Todd: Wow. Well, one thing's for sure: it's very easy to get around this city.Jerri: Yes, definitely.

Todd: Another famous thing about Bangkok is the motorcycle taxis, which really freak a lot of the tourists out.Jerri: I'm sure, I'm sure.Todd: Like, they're afraid to get on one. Can you explain the motorcycle taxis, which are incredibly common?Jerri: Absolutely, so, it can get quite - it's quite scary but it's probably the fastest and most cost-effective way to get around Bangkok, especially during the rush hour. Motorbike - you know, there's like a lot of motorbike taxis in Bangkok and they're at different stations, so you can get them at the - at - right below the skytrain station, mostly. And, yeah, they know the streets very well. They know the - the - the fastest routes to get to your destination. And once you get familiar with it, it's actually not too bad as long as you ask for a helmet. I always think that that's - that is - 'cause it does get quite scary on the main roads with, like, a lot of...Todd: Yeah, women, a lot of times, sit in a very dangerous position...Jerri: Yeah, yeah.Todd: ...because of their skirt. They'll sit sideways...Jerri: Yeah.Todd: ...they don't sit with both legs on - with one leg on each side of the motorcycle, which I always find incredibly dangerous.Jerri: Yeah.Todd: Do you ever sit that way?Jerri: I have to admit, yeah, most of the time I sit that way. And it's quite, like - you don't realize it yourself but when people see it they're quite fascinated by it...Todd: Yeah.Jerri: ...like, how we can balance ourself...Todd: Yeah.Jerri: ...and then the motorbike is like swerving its way around.Todd: Right, exactly.Jerri: Yeah. Yeah.Todd: Another thing about the - maybe just explaining about the motorcycle taxis - is, so, Bangkok has really long streets. It's not a grid system.Jerri: No.Todd: It's kind of like the roots of a tree. Like, the roads will just go forever...Jerri: Right. Yes.Todd: ...in one direction. So, basically, people take the main lines, like the subway or overhead train, to their stop and then they take the motorcycle taxi to their home, correct?Todd: Yes, yes, correct. That's the most common way, yeah, to do it.Todd: Yeah. And in the mornings and in the evenings it's amazing 'cause it's, like, this fleet of motorcycle.Jerri: Yeah, yeah, yeah.Todd: Like, the whole street is just humming with motorcycles.Jerri: And then you realize how popular they are when you're standing at the station and there's no motorbikes left 'cause, you know, they're all being, yeah, being used.Todd: Yeah. So, like, in your - where you live, do you see the same motorcycle taxis every day?Jerri: Yes, yes.Todd: Do you know them by name?Jerri: Yes. So, like, even the one in front of where I work - they're, like, familiar face. They know where I live, and...Todd: Yeah.Jerri: ...they take me home every day. Yeah.Todd: Oh my God, that's so awesome. So, what about new things like Uber and Grab?Jerri: So, it's causing quite a bit of tension in Bangkok. As expected, you know the motorcycle taxis and the normal taxis are not so happy about the - this. But, yeah, I think with the election coming up, a lot of parties are trying to regulate it a little better because, currently, the main problem is that the Ubers and the Grab drivers are not legal to have passengers. They don't have the license. So, that's the main issue where - why the motorbike taxis are - and the - the normal taxi drivers are quite fed up about.Todd: Wow. Well, one thing's for sure: it's very easy to get around this city.Jerri: Yes, definitely.

Todd: So I'm here with Jerri and she is from Thailand, and we're talking about islands. So these islands in Thailand get a lot of tourists.Jerri: Yes, right.Todd: Thailand probably gets more tourists to its islands than any other country in the world. Is there like any concerns about the environment or development on the islands?Jerri: Yes, of course. Wherever there are people, there's always an effect on the environment. And you see this a lot, especially on the most visited islands such as Phuket and Samoi with the development of condominiums, schools, malls, leads to deforestation, of course, and more pollution. You also see the effect more on the more vulnerable islands like the smaller islands such as, I think, Koh Phi Phi or Koh Lanta. All of the islands used to be full of trees and it used to be like national parks. And now with the people taking speed boats and everything, you really see the oils on the sea. The coral reefs are not as colorful as they should be. All the plastic that comes with, you know, getting food boxes, plastic straws. Yeah. And you really see the ecosystems in the sea are affected.Todd: Yeah, that's what I tell – that's a problem that we have to solve everywhere in the world, it seems like, especially the plastic. Do you know about Easter Island in Chile? You know, with the big stone statues?Jerri: No, not so much.Todd: Yeah, that reminds me of Easter Island which is, you know, famous in Chile for its really large stone monuments like the stone faces. And they couldn't figure out how the people disappeared or why they disappeared, and now they think it's because they cut down all the trees.Jerri: Oh, wow.Todd: And after they cut down all the trees, that basically destroyed the environment, and the people couldn't survive anymore so they had to leave the island. So islands really are vulnerable, especially with their trees, right?Jerri: Right. Yeah, absolutely.Todd: That's one of the reasons I really like Koh Chang, because you can only develop on one side of the road, you know.Jerri: Yeah.Todd: So there's a road around the island and if it's on the beach side you can develop, but anything inland on the other side of the road, there's pretty much no development.Jerri: Yes. But there are also on the positive side you see, you know, when – there are things like bad things happening to environment, you see innovation, people actually coming up with ideas. So a lot of hotel chains, for example, are becoming more sustainable. They're incorporating metal straws, paper straws. So you do see some changes but there's a long way to go.Todd: Yeah, you know, I think that's a great point. Like eventually, business can find the solution.Jerri: Yeah, yeah. That's always…Todd: It's in their best interest, right? Oh, that's really nice. So what about the economy? I guess the biggest jobs are the resorts?Jerri: Yes. So the Thai economy relies on tourists. Yeah, like the hotels, the restaurants, that's where we get our money flowing, I would say.Todd: Right. So that's your of the capital influx from other countries.Jerri: Yes.Todd: Right, okay. So, you live in Bangkok. Out of curiosity, how often do you get to a resort or to the beach?Jerri: More than I should, to be honest. Like I love the islands so every opportunity I get, I'll fly down south, and then visit the different ones. But yeah, as I mentioned, my favorite one would be Koh Pangan. Yeah.Todd: Can you fly directly from Bangkok to Koh Pangan?Jerri: Yes. Well, not directly, but you can fly to the mainland which is Surat Thani. And it's actually nice just to spend a day there because Surat Thani, there's like a culture there and then you get to try the authentic Southern food before you actually go to the islands and it becomes a little bit more like Western, with the taste and everything. So that's my recommendation. And then the next day, you can just go to the pier and take a ferry to the different islands you want to go to.Todd: Oh, wow. So I definitely, definitely want to take your advice.Jerri: Thank you.Todd: Well, that's really nice.

Todd: So I'm here with Jerri and she is from Thailand, and we're talking about islands. So these islands in Thailand get a lot of tourists.Jerri: Yes, right.Todd: Thailand probably gets more tourists to its islands than any other country in the world. Is there like any concerns about the environment or development on the islands?Jerri: Yes, of course. Wherever there are people, there's always an effect on the environment. And you see this a lot, especially on the most visited islands such as Phuket and Samoi with the development of condominiums, schools, malls, leads to deforestation, of course, and more pollution. You also see the effect more on the more vulnerable islands like the smaller islands such as, I think, Koh Phi Phi or Koh Lanta. All of the islands used to be full of trees and it used to be like national parks. And now with the people taking speed boats and everything, you really see the oils on the sea. The coral reefs are not as colorful as they should be. All the plastic that comes with, you know, getting food boxes, plastic straws. Yeah. And you really see the ecosystems in the sea are affected.Todd: Yeah, that's what I tell – that's a problem that we have to solve everywhere in the world, it seems like, especially the plastic. Do you know about Easter Island in Chile? You know, with the big stone statues?Jerri: No, not so much.Todd: Yeah, that reminds me of Easter Island which is, you know, famous in Chile for its really large stone monuments like the stone faces. And they couldn't figure out how the people disappeared or why they disappeared, and now they think it's because they cut down all the trees.Jerri: Oh, wow.Todd: And after they cut down all the trees, that basically destroyed the environment, and the people couldn't survive anymore so they had to leave the island. So islands really are vulnerable, especially with their trees, right?Jerri: Right. Yeah, absolutely.Todd: That's one of the reasons I really like Koh Chang, because you can only develop on one side of the road, you know.Jerri: Yeah.Todd: So there's a road around the island and if it's on the beach side you can develop, but anything inland on the other side of the road, there's pretty much no development.Jerri: Yes. But there are also on the positive side you see, you know, when – there are things like bad things happening to environment, you see innovation, people actually coming up with ideas. So a lot of hotel chains, for example, are becoming more sustainable. They're incorporating metal straws, paper straws. So you do see some changes but there's a long way to go.Todd: Yeah, you know, I think that's a great point. Like eventually, business can find the solution.Jerri: Yeah, yeah. That's always…Todd: It's in their best interest, right? Oh, that's really nice. So what about the economy? I guess the biggest jobs are the resorts?Jerri: Yes. So the Thai economy relies on tourists. Yeah, like the hotels, the restaurants, that's where we get our money flowing, I would say.Todd: Right. So that's your of the capital influx from other countries.Jerri: Yes.Todd: Right, okay. So, you live in Bangkok. Out of curiosity, how often do you get to a resort or to the beach?Jerri: More than I should, to be honest. Like I love the islands so every opportunity I get, I'll fly down south, and then visit the different ones. But yeah, as I mentioned, my favorite one would be Koh Pangan. Yeah.Todd: Can you fly directly from Bangkok to Koh Pangan?Jerri: Yes. Well, not directly, but you can fly to the mainland which is Surat Thani. And it's actually nice just to spend a day there because Surat Thani, there's like a culture there and then you get to try the authentic Southern food before you actually go to the islands and it becomes a little bit more like Western, with the taste and everything. So that's my recommendation. And then the next day, you can just go to the pier and take a ferry to the different islands you want to go to.Todd: Oh, wow. So I definitely, definitely want to take your advice.Jerri: Thank you.Todd: Well, that's really nice.

Todd: Did your kids work when they were in school? How did you feel about your kids when they were in high school?Angela: My kids had to work for their pocket money, so they would have chores to do and they would get pocket money. They would help with the washing up, sweeping, cleaning, whatever. They worked hard to earn their pocket money. They thought it was really hard.Todd: So did you ever withhold their wages?Angela: Yeah.Todd: You did? Really?!Angela: Yeah.Todd: You'd be like, “No, you didn't do your chores. You don't get the money”?Angela: Yeah, you're not having it. Yeah.Todd: Really?! How often would you have to do that?Angela: More so in the beginning. Once they get the idea, you know, if you don't work for your money, you don't get your money. And that's a life lesson, isn't it? If you don't do your work, you don't get money.Todd: That is great! Because I think a lot of people just assume, even me, like I've never had children, but the parents just spoil the kids. They don't want to have the hassle, they don't want to have the fight, they just give them the money.Angela: But you look at the difference between the Western kids and the kids out here. You can go on a bus trip with the kids out here. You can go on a six-hour bus trip. You don't hear a peep out of the kids. They stop there. The mom's asleep, maybe the kid's asleep as well. If you put Western kids on a bus for six hours, you'd have to have a PlayStation or a tablet or something. They'd be crying. You'd have to feed them things. It's a totally different way of acting.Todd: Yeah.Angela: I miss that. When I came to Asia, I noticed that the kids were happier with less, much less than we have. And it wasn't until I spent the year in Asia and then I went to Australia, landed in Sydney, noticed one thing, that the people were much bigger, but also the kids were just so spoiled. The parents were just giving in to them.Todd: So you think that maybe we need to rectify that situation, that we should stop spoiling kids.Angela: Yeah, I do.Todd: Take away the PlayStation.Angela: Yeah.Todd: Just stick them outside, yeah.Angela: You can get stalls today with - a place where you can put the kids' tablet.Todd: Yeah, it's crazy.Angela: Why won't the kid just look at the world?Todd: Yeah. It's so funny you mentioned that because before we were talking about potential business ideas, and I have an idea called “Camp Boredom.”Angela: Boredom is good.Todd: Yeah. What happens at Camp Boredom is you send your kid to Camp Boredom and it's just a camp in the woods or on a farm. The kids come and they go, “What do we do?” and I go, “I don't know. Nothing. Go outside. Just find something to do.”Angela: No Wi-Fi.Todd: Yeah, because I grew up no Wi-Fi, no nothing. I grew up on a farm and I'm really blessed. I had no idea how blessed I was at the time. But I grew up, I spent all time on my grandfather's farm, and we had nothing to do. I mean, nothing. But we had this farm, like, so we had everything to do. So the rule was, you had to be up for breakfast at 7:00 and then once you finished breakfast, you had to be out of the house, like you could not be in the house. It was almost forbidden to be in the house unless it's like raining outside. And you would be outside from sun-up to sundown.Angela: Yeah, climbing fences, climbing trees, haystacks.Todd: Right, having the best time of your life. And your imagination is going and you just… Oh! The little things that you would do. Oh, we're going to build a tree fort. Oh, we're going to do this. Oh, we're going to do that.Angela: We're going to stop the river from flowing.Todd: Right, right. So that's my idea. I think Camp Boredom. So maybe we have to…Angela: I think boredom is good for kids.Todd: Yeah. How so?Angela: Because, as you say, you know, if they're always entertained and always fed, then they don't get to learn how to entertain themselves.Todd: Yeah.Angela: If you sit them in a car with nothing for six hours…Todd: Right.Angela: Then look out the window.Todd: There was a great thing recently with Jerry Seinfeld, the comedian. He has a bit where he talks about how his mother would take him to the bank when he was a kid, and like a bank or department store was the ultimate space of boredom. Like there's nothing you can do. You're so bored, you just want to like flop down on the floor type of thing. But you're right, like I don't know if kids have that anymore.Angela: No, they don't.Todd: Where they hit that wall where there's nothing for them to do, you know.Angela: No.Todd: So do you think that maybe we should limit the devices, the smartphones, all that, that kids use?Angela: I do think we should but I think it's too late now. I think we're past the point where you can get Wi-Fi and it's that… You know, if we took off the kids now, what would they do? They'd be bored.Todd: Well, you can just never give it to them, right?Angela: Yeah, in the first place.Todd: Maybe that's impossible.Angela: It's impossible.Todd: Okay, cool.

Todd: Did your kids work when they were in school? How did you feel about your kids when they were in high school?Angela: My kids had to work for their pocket money, so they would have chores to do and they would get pocket money. They would help with the washing up, sweeping, cleaning, whatever. They worked hard to earn their pocket money. They thought it was really hard.Todd: So did you ever withhold their wages?Angela: Yeah.Todd: You did? Really?!Angela: Yeah.Todd: You'd be like, “No, you didn't do your chores. You don't get the money”?Angela: Yeah, you're not having it. Yeah.Todd: Really?! How often would you have to do that?Angela: More so in the beginning. Once they get the idea, you know, if you don't work for your money, you don't get your money. And that's a life lesson, isn't it? If you don't do your work, you don't get money.Todd: That is great! Because I think a lot of people just assume, even me, like I've never had children, but the parents just spoil the kids. They don't want to have the hassle, they don't want to have the fight, they just give them the money.Angela: But you look at the difference between the Western kids and the kids out here. You can go on a bus trip with the kids out here. You can go on a six-hour bus trip. You don't hear a peep out of the kids. They stop there. The mom's asleep, maybe the kid's asleep as well. If you put Western kids on a bus for six hours, you'd have to have a PlayStation or a tablet or something. They'd be crying. You'd have to feed them things. It's a totally different way of acting.Todd: Yeah.Angela: I miss that. When I came to Asia, I noticed that the kids were happier with less, much less than we have. And it wasn't until I spent the year in Asia and then I went to Australia, landed in Sydney, noticed one thing, that the people were much bigger, but also the kids were just so spoiled. The parents were just giving in to them.Todd: So you think that maybe we need to rectify that situation, that we should stop spoiling kids.Angela: Yeah, I do.Todd: Take away the PlayStation.Angela: Yeah.Todd: Just stick them outside, yeah.Angela: You can get stalls today with - a place where you can put the kids' tablet.Todd: Yeah, it's crazy.Angela: Why won't the kid just look at the world?Todd: Yeah. It's so funny you mentioned that because before we were talking about potential business ideas, and I have an idea called “Camp Boredom.”Angela: Boredom is good.Todd: Yeah. What happens at Camp Boredom is you send your kid to Camp Boredom and it's just a camp in the woods or on a farm. The kids come and they go, “What do we do?” and I go, “I don't know. Nothing. Go outside. Just find something to do.”Angela: No Wi-Fi.Todd: Yeah, because I grew up no Wi-Fi, no nothing. I grew up on a farm and I'm really blessed. I had no idea how blessed I was at the time. But I grew up, I spent all time on my grandfather's farm, and we had nothing to do. I mean, nothing. But we had this farm, like, so we had everything to do. So the rule was, you had to be up for breakfast at 7:00 and then once you finished breakfast, you had to be out of the house, like you could not be in the house. It was almost forbidden to be in the house unless it's like raining outside. And you would be outside from sun-up to sundown.Angela: Yeah, climbing fences, climbing trees, haystacks.Todd: Right, having the best time of your life. And your imagination is going and you just… Oh! The little things that you would do. Oh, we're going to build a tree fort. Oh, we're going to do this. Oh, we're going to do that.Angela: We're going to stop the river from flowing.Todd: Right, right. So that's my idea. I think Camp Boredom. So maybe we have to…Angela: I think boredom is good for kids.Todd: Yeah. How so?Angela: Because, as you say, you know, if they're always entertained and always fed, then they don't get to learn how to entertain themselves.Todd: Yeah.Angela: If you sit them in a car with nothing for six hours…Todd: Right.Angela: Then look out the window.Todd: There was a great thing recently with Jerry Seinfeld, the comedian. He has a bit where he talks about how his mother would take him to the bank when he was a kid, and like a bank or department store was the ultimate space of boredom. Like there's nothing you can do. You're so bored, you just want to like flop down on the floor type of thing. But you're right, like I don't know if kids have that anymore.Angela: No, they don't.Todd: Where they hit that wall where there's nothing for them to do, you know.Angela: No.Todd: So do you think that maybe we should limit the devices, the smartphones, all that, that kids use?Angela: I do think we should but I think it's too late now. I think we're past the point where you can get Wi-Fi and it's that… You know, if we took off the kids now, what would they do? They'd be bored.Todd: Well, you can just never give it to them, right?Angela: Yeah, in the first place.Todd: Maybe that's impossible.Angela: It's impossible.Todd: Okay, cool.

Todd: Well I have to admit, because even English teachers will tell you, and they're lying if they don't admit this, even on tests like the TOEFL, it's very hard for a teacher to get 100%. Not because of knowledge, but because of concentration.Rufei: Yes.Todd: Right?Rufei: Exactly. We have a lot of questions and some of them, they are kind of tricky.Todd: Right.Rufei: Yeah.Todd: So they mislead you a little bit.Rufei: Yeah.Todd: Oh no, that's great. So you took all these courses, what was the course you were best at and the course you were worst at?Rufei: English was my worst at.Todd: Oh no, your English is wonderful! Really?Rufei: Yeah.Todd: Oh I disagree.Rufei: It was.Todd: Oh, OK. How do you learn English in China?Rufei: Actually, my speaking skills I gathered from my traveling, I did solo traveling last year.Todd: Wow, you've learned a lot, quickly.Rufei: Thank you.Todd: That's great! That's really inspirational I think for a lot of the students that listen to this site. One year?Rufei: Yeah.Todd: Fantastic.Rufei: But the thing I have to mention about is, you have to know a lot of words. Before you start to speak English, you have to know what you know. Like you have to remember a lot of words, and then you can use it when you have to use it.Todd: Okay, right. So English was tough, not easy.Rufei: Not easy, for everything you have to learn. Learning isn't easy and funny stuff for everyone. Starting is hard and it's kind of betray the human ...Todd: Spirit?Rufei: Yes.Todd: Wow, that's crazy. So how many students would be in an English class? I hear that China has huge English classes. Like there might be 100 students in one class.Rufei: It can be, but it depends. In my high school we have the same class at the same classroom always, and in my university we have 30 students in my English.Todd: Oh okay, that's kind of normal. That's still a lot, for an English teacher that's a lot. Were your teachers usually Chinese, or an international teacher?Rufei: Chinese teacher.Todd: Chinese teacher, okay. And so there was a big stress on grammar and vocabulary, things like that?Rufei: Yes.Todd: How about listening?Rufei: We only do the audio listening test. So it's always the same pronunciation.Todd: Yeah, so you don't have a lot of variety of accents?Rufei: Yes.Todd: Yeah. Okay, well you have to introduce to China.Rufei: Yeah, cool.Todd: What was your best subject?Rufei: My best subject was mathematics.Todd: Oh great. Yeah, that's impressive. I have a degree in economics and there's a lot of math. I went to a good school but I was not strong at math and I was terrible at physics. And physics and economics are kind of related, but not really, I did not do very well in physics. So how are you at physics?Rufei: Actually I love all the math stuff, but also included physics, because you also have to use a lot of mathematics on your physics. For the physics you have to know the formula very well, then you can use it. If you don't know the formula very well, when the question is there you cannot ...Todd: Apply?Rufei: ... apply that.Todd: Yeah. Oh yeah, I agree, it's tough. I am very impressed with you because whenever I meet somebody who is good at math or physics, I have great admiration. My degree was math heavy, but math was not my strong point.Rufei: So what was your strong point?Todd: That's a good question. I was never a good student at anything. How I got to a good university is actually surprising, but I was always middle of the road. Middle of the pack, as we said. Always B- student, in everything.Rufei: I see.Todd: Yeah, I was not exceptional like you.Rufei: You don't have to be very good at starting, but you can handle your life very easily. That's also an important thing for a human.Todd: That is true, I do agree with that. But I think if I was a student in China, I would be that Mister 2000.

Todd: Well I have to admit, because even English teachers will tell you, and they're lying if they don't admit this, even on tests like the TOEFL, it's very hard for a teacher to get 100%. Not because of knowledge, but because of concentration.Rufei: Yes.Todd: Right?Rufei: Exactly. We have a lot of questions and some of them, they are kind of tricky.Todd: Right.Rufei: Yeah.Todd: So they mislead you a little bit.Rufei: Yeah.Todd: Oh no, that's great. So you took all these courses, what was the course you were best at and the course you were worst at?Rufei: English was my worst at.Todd: Oh no, your English is wonderful! Really?Rufei: Yeah.Todd: Oh I disagree.Rufei: It was.Todd: Oh, OK. How do you learn English in China?Rufei: Actually, my speaking skills I gathered from my traveling, I did solo traveling last year.Todd: Wow, you've learned a lot, quickly.Rufei: Thank you.Todd: That's great! That's really inspirational I think for a lot of the students that listen to this site. One year?Rufei: Yeah.Todd: Fantastic.Rufei: But the thing I have to mention about is, you have to know a lot of words. Before you start to speak English, you have to know what you know. Like you have to remember a lot of words, and then you can use it when you have to use it.Todd: Okay, right. So English was tough, not easy.Rufei: Not easy, for everything you have to learn. Learning isn't easy and funny stuff for everyone. Starting is hard and it's kind of betray the human ...Todd: Spirit?Rufei: Yes.Todd: Wow, that's crazy. So how many students would be in an English class? I hear that China has huge English classes. Like there might be 100 students in one class.Rufei: It can be, but it depends. In my high school we have the same class at the same classroom always, and in my university we have 30 students in my English.Todd: Oh okay, that's kind of normal. That's still a lot, for an English teacher that's a lot. Were your teachers usually Chinese, or an international teacher?Rufei: Chinese teacher.Todd: Chinese teacher, okay. And so there was a big stress on grammar and vocabulary, things like that?Rufei: Yes.Todd: How about listening?Rufei: We only do the audio listening test. So it's always the same pronunciation.Todd: Yeah, so you don't have a lot of variety of accents?Rufei: Yes.Todd: Yeah. Okay, well you have to introduce to China.Rufei: Yeah, cool.Todd: What was your best subject?Rufei: My best subject was mathematics.Todd: Oh great. Yeah, that's impressive. I have a degree in economics and there's a lot of math. I went to a good school but I was not strong at math and I was terrible at physics. And physics and economics are kind of related, but not really, I did not do very well in physics. So how are you at physics?Rufei: Actually I love all the math stuff, but also included physics, because you also have to use a lot of mathematics on your physics. For the physics you have to know the formula very well, then you can use it. If you don't know the formula very well, when the question is there you cannot ...Todd: Apply?Rufei: ... apply that.Todd: Yeah. Oh yeah, I agree, it's tough. I am very impressed with you because whenever I meet somebody who is good at math or physics, I have great admiration. My degree was math heavy, but math was not my strong point.Rufei: So what was your strong point?Todd: That's a good question. I was never a good student at anything. How I got to a good university is actually surprising, but I was always middle of the road. Middle of the pack, as we said. Always B- student, in everything.Rufei: I see.Todd: Yeah, I was not exceptional like you.Rufei: You don't have to be very good at starting, but you can handle your life very easily. That's also an important thing for a human.Todd: That is true, I do agree with that. But I think if I was a student in China, I would be that Mister 2000.

Todd: Rufei, you are from China. In America, Chinese students have a reputation of being very hard-working. Is that true?Rufei: Yes, exactly. In my high school, in one class we have around 70 students in one class and everybody wants to be the top student, so everybody works so hard. I say my high school was kind of like a prison. You have to go to school every day from 6:35 AM to 9:40 PM.Todd: Really? That long?Rufei: Yes.Todd: That's over 12 hours; that's like 13, 14 hours a day!Rufei: Yes, exactly.Todd: How did you feel as a student studying that much?Rufei: Sleepy.Todd: I bet.Rufei: Every day I'm so sleepy.Todd: I can imagine. Do you think it was productive studying that much?Rufei: I think their purpose just like as to stay as much time as we can in the school and we cannot get distracted by other stuff, so we always stay at school and we always focus on our studying ... We cannot know anything about the outside of the wall from school.Todd: That's amazing. For such a long day, can you talk about the daily schedule? What was your schedule like everyday?Rufei: From 6:50, we start to have class. From 6:50 until maybe 11:45; we have 45 minutes class and then 10 minutes break. We also have 30 minutes we have to do exercise on the playground and, in the afternoon, is the same routine. Then, we went to dinner around 6:00 to 7:00. From 7:00 to 9:40 we have to do our homework.Todd: So, you study at school? It's not homework, it's schoolwork; you don't actually go home, right?Rufei: Yeah.Todd: That's crazy. How many classes would you have every day?Rufei: Eight classes.Todd: What were the subjects?Rufei: We separate the subject. If you learn more Mathematics, we learn mathematics, English, and Chinese, and physics, chemistry, and biology.Todd: That's very rigorous. Did you enjoy all the subjects?Rufei: Yeah. I love physics and biology and chemistry.Todd: Now you are training to be a doctor?Rufei: Yeah.Todd: That's fantastic. Did you know you wanted to be a doctor when you were in high school?Rufei: I kind of know because my father is a doctor and he was kind of forcing me to study medicine.Todd: Nice. We have a phrase in English; we say, "Follow in your father's footsteps." You definitely are following in your father's footsteps. That's great. Is your mother a doctor?Rufei: My mother is a businesswoman now.Todd: Okay, great. You had all these courses. In America, there's a big controversy about tests, that the kids take too many tests; it's too test driven. What about in China? Do you have a lot of tests?Rufei: Yeah, I have test every month. They will make a list of every single person; how much score you got in this test-Todd: Whoa. They rank everybody to see-Rufei: Yes.Todd: That's very competitive.Rufei: Yeah. I think that's kind of bad for our emotion.Todd: Yeah, so it creates a lot of stress.Rufei: Yeah. We have 2000 students in one grade.Todd: That is crazy. So, you can be number 2000, you can be the lowest student?Rufei: Yes.Todd: And they put that out there?Rufei: Yes.Todd: Really? They could never do that in America.Rufei: Yeah, I think so.Todd: Oh my gosh. Do you think that's a good idea?Rufei: Depends on the person.Todd: Right; yeah. Wow. You have a lot of pressure. Did you feel pressure from your parents, from your peers, from your teachers?Rufei: Yeah.Todd: Who gave you the most pressure?Rufei: Myself.Todd: That's good.Rufei: I don't want to be lazy. I don't want to be worse, so I have to always work hard to chasing other people ... Everybody wants to be the best, so everybody worked really, really hard. Even we have breaking time, they don't break at all.Todd: Seriously?Rufei: Yes.Todd: What do they do during the break?Rufei: They do questions.Todd: Wow. They quiz each other? The students quiz each other or they just do homework?Rufei: They do their homework and they find out what problem they've had and they solve the problem with teachers or other students. They just starting all day; they can't do that.Todd: That's amazing. Kids do this 14, 15 hours a day?Rufei: Yeah.Todd: Wow. That's really good for China!Rufei: We don't have that much summer vacation and winter vacation. In winter vacation, we have two weeks because of the Chinese New Year; it's about two weeks off. We have two weeks in winter vacation and one week summer vacation only.Todd: Is that enough?Rufei: Of course not. Even we have vacation, the teacher would give us a lot of homework to do.Todd: That is very impressive.Rufei: This is very not good experience.Todd: We'll talk about that in the next interview; I think that's a very interesting point.

Todd: Rufei, you are from China. In America, Chinese students have a reputation of being very hard-working. Is that true?Rufei: Yes, exactly. In my high school, in one class we have around 70 students in one class and everybody wants to be the top student, so everybody works so hard. I say my high school was kind of like a prison. You have to go to school every day from 6:35 AM to 9:40 PM.Todd: Really? That long?Rufei: Yes.Todd: That's over 12 hours; that's like 13, 14 hours a day!Rufei: Yes, exactly.Todd: How did you feel as a student studying that much?Rufei: Sleepy.Todd: I bet.Rufei: Every day I'm so sleepy.Todd: I can imagine. Do you think it was productive studying that much?Rufei: I think their purpose just like as to stay as much time as we can in the school and we cannot get distracted by other stuff, so we always stay at school and we always focus on our studying ... We cannot know anything about the outside of the wall from school.Todd: That's amazing. For such a long day, can you talk about the daily schedule? What was your schedule like everyday?Rufei: From 6:50, we start to have class. From 6:50 until maybe 11:45; we have 45 minutes class and then 10 minutes break. We also have 30 minutes we have to do exercise on the playground and, in the afternoon, is the same routine. Then, we went to dinner around 6:00 to 7:00. From 7:00 to 9:40 we have to do our homework.Todd: So, you study at school? It's not homework, it's schoolwork; you don't actually go home, right?Rufei: Yeah.Todd: That's crazy. How many classes would you have every day?Rufei: Eight classes.Todd: What were the subjects?Rufei: We separate the subject. If you learn more Mathematics, we learn mathematics, English, and Chinese, and physics, chemistry, and biology.Todd: That's very rigorous. Did you enjoy all the subjects?Rufei: Yeah. I love physics and biology and chemistry.Todd: Now you are training to be a doctor?Rufei: Yeah.Todd: That's fantastic. Did you know you wanted to be a doctor when you were in high school?Rufei: I kind of know because my father is a doctor and he was kind of forcing me to study medicine.Todd: Nice. We have a phrase in English; we say, "Follow in your father's footsteps." You definitely are following in your father's footsteps. That's great. Is your mother a doctor?Rufei: My mother is a businesswoman now.Todd: Okay, great. You had all these courses. In America, there's a big controversy about tests, that the kids take too many tests; it's too test driven. What about in China? Do you have a lot of tests?Rufei: Yeah, I have test every month. They will make a list of every single person; how much score you got in this test-Todd: Whoa. They rank everybody to see-Rufei: Yes.Todd: That's very competitive.Rufei: Yeah. I think that's kind of bad for our emotion.Todd: Yeah, so it creates a lot of stress.Rufei: Yeah. We have 2000 students in one grade.Todd: That is crazy. So, you can be number 2000, you can be the lowest student?Rufei: Yes.Todd: And they put that out there?Rufei: Yes.Todd: Really? They could never do that in America.Rufei: Yeah, I think so.Todd: Oh my gosh. Do you think that's a good idea?Rufei: Depends on the person.Todd: Right; yeah. Wow. You have a lot of pressure. Did you feel pressure from your parents, from your peers, from your teachers?Rufei: Yeah.Todd: Who gave you the most pressure?Rufei: Myself.Todd: That's good.Rufei: I don't want to be lazy. I don't want to be worse, so I have to always work hard to chasing other people ... Everybody wants to be the best, so everybody worked really, really hard. Even we have breaking time, they don't break at all.Todd: Seriously?Rufei: Yes.Todd: What do they do during the break?Rufei: They do questions.Todd: Wow. They quiz each other? The students quiz each other or they just do homework?Rufei: They do their homework and they find out what problem they've had and they solve the problem with teachers or other students. They just starting all day; they can't do that.Todd: That's amazing. Kids do this 14, 15 hours a day?Rufei: Yeah.Todd: Wow. That's really good for China!Rufei: We don't have that much summer vacation and winter vacation. In winter vacation, we have two weeks because of the Chinese New Year; it's about two weeks off. We have two weeks in winter vacation and one week summer vacation only.Todd: Is that enough?Rufei: Of course not. Even we have vacation, the teacher would give us a lot of homework to do.Todd: That is very impressive.Rufei: This is very not good experience.Todd: We'll talk about that in the next interview; I think that's a very interesting point.

Todd: So, Meg, what do you like to do in your free time?Meg: Actually, I love cooking. I like to try new dishes and I love baking as well.Todd: Oh, nice. That's interesting. Because I hate cooking.Meg: Oh, really?Todd: Yeah. And I don't know anything about baking, but I like cleaning. Cleaning is relaxing.Meg: Really? Is that true?Todd: Yeah. Really, I like cleaning. So, my house is usually very clean.Meg: My house is usually clean also, but I don't like cleaning very much.Todd: Yeah, I think most people don't like cleaning. But some people think cleaning is relaxing. Like me.Meg: That's true. What else do you like to do?Todd: Well, I like exercising. I like going to the gym. I like listening to podcasts. So, I listen to a lot of podcasts a lot. I like surfing the internet. And sometimes, I enjoy reading books.Meg: I also enjoy reading books when I have time.Todd: But these days, I often listen to books instead. I listen to audiobooks.Meg: Oh really?Todd: Yeah, I like listening to audiobooks.Meg: Why?Todd: Because I can exercise at the same time.Meg: So, exercising and reading at the same time.Todd: Yeah, it's fun. So, I love jogging and I go jogging almost every day, usually for one hour. I listen to audiobooks when I jog.Meg: So, you can do two things at once.Todd: Very important. Multitasking. I love multitasking.Meg: Sounds like you're good at multitasking.Todd: Let's talk about outdoor activities. Do you like doing yard work?Meg: I don't especially like doing yard work. But right now, I don't have a yard. So, doing yard work isn't something I have to worry about. What about you?Todd: I like doing yard work. I think it's very relaxing. It's like cleaning. So, I enjoy it. But like you, I don't have a yard. So, now I don't do yard work very much. Or I can't do yard work.Meg: So, you like gardening if you have a yard?Todd: Yeah. I grew up on a big house. So, we have lots of yard work, lots of gardening. So, yeah.Meg: Right.Todd: But what about other things like hiking, do you like hiking?Meg: I love hiking. Anything that is in nature, I love doing. I love hiking. I love kayaking. I love canoeing. Any outdoor sports. Do you like hiking?Todd: I do. I'm with you. I love hiking. What about things like rock climbing?Meg: I have never been rock climbing. Have you gone rock climbing?Todd: No. Rock climbing looks dangerous. So, I'm still scared.Meg: Yeah,Todd: So, I've never done rock climbing either. What about things like singing and dancing? Do you enjoy singing and dancing?Meg: I enjoy singing, but I'm not very good at it. So, I like singing when I'm alone or in my car. Are you good at singing?Todd: No, I'm terrible at singing. So, I hate singing. I really, really hate singing. But I like going to karaoke and listening to people sing.Meg: Yeah, some people are really good at singing. What about dancing?Todd: I hate dancing too. Yeah, I'm not good at dancing. So, dancing is very embarrassing for me. I don't like it.Meg: I'm not good at dancing either.Todd: Are there any other activities you really dislike doing? Like for me, I hate writing letters. For example, I don't like writing thank you letters. I don't like writing anything with my hand. Typing is okay. I don't mind typing things, but I hate writing.Meg: So, using your hand to write, you hate writing?Todd: Yeah, I like typing. Fingers is okay. Thumb is okay on the phone. I don't mind texting, I don't mind typing. I just don't like physically writing with a pencil or a pen.Meg: Yeah. Pen or a pencil, like writing a letter.Todd: Right. Because my writing is really bad, and it's hard to read. So, it's embarrassing.Meg: I'm sure it's fine.Todd: Yeah. How about you? For example, do you like iron in your clothes?Meg: I don't like having my clothes, but my clothes usually don't need ironing, so I don't have to worry about it too much. I don't like doing laundry. It's related to ironing clothes. So, it takes a long time. And the clothes, I have to dry the clothes. So, doing laundry is a little bit boring for me.Todd: I don't mind doing laundry if I go to the coin laundry, but I hate hanging my laundry out. I hate hanging out my laundry. It takes forever. I don't know why, you put it out, you take it back in, it just takes so much time.Meg: That's funny. I'm kind of the opposite. I don't mind hanging out my laundry, because I like saving money, so I don't have to use money at the coin laundry.Todd: Plus, you are helping the environment.Meg: That's true. I like helping the earth.Todd: Yeah, I should change. Okay. Thanks Meg.Meg: Yeah.

Todd: So, Meg, what do you like to do in your free time?Meg: Actually, I love cooking. I like to try new dishes and I love baking as well.Todd: Oh, nice. That's interesting. Because I hate cooking.Meg: Oh, really?Todd: Yeah. And I don't know anything about baking, but I like cleaning. Cleaning is relaxing.Meg: Really? Is that true?Todd: Yeah. Really, I like cleaning. So, my house is usually very clean.Meg: My house is usually clean also, but I don't like cleaning very much.Todd: Yeah, I think most people don't like cleaning. But some people think cleaning is relaxing. Like me.Meg: That's true. What else do you like to do?Todd: Well, I like exercising. I like going to the gym. I like listening to podcasts. So, I listen to a lot of podcasts a lot. I like surfing the internet. And sometimes, I enjoy reading books.Meg: I also enjoy reading books when I have time.Todd: But these days, I often listen to books instead. I listen to audiobooks.Meg: Oh really?Todd: Yeah, I like listening to audiobooks.Meg: Why?Todd: Because I can exercise at the same time.Meg: So, exercising and reading at the same time.Todd: Yeah, it's fun. So, I love jogging and I go jogging almost every day, usually for one hour. I listen to audiobooks when I jog.Meg: So, you can do two things at once.Todd: Very important. Multitasking. I love multitasking.Meg: Sounds like you're good at multitasking.Todd: Let's talk about outdoor activities. Do you like doing yard work?Meg: I don't especially like doing yard work. But right now, I don't have a yard. So, doing yard work isn't something I have to worry about. What about you?Todd: I like doing yard work. I think it's very relaxing. It's like cleaning. So, I enjoy it. But like you, I don't have a yard. So, now I don't do yard work very much. Or I can't do yard work.Meg: So, you like gardening if you have a yard?Todd: Yeah. I grew up on a big house. So, we have lots of yard work, lots of gardening. So, yeah.Meg: Right.Todd: But what about other things like hiking, do you like hiking?Meg: I love hiking. Anything that is in nature, I love doing. I love hiking. I love kayaking. I love canoeing. Any outdoor sports. Do you like hiking?Todd: I do. I'm with you. I love hiking. What about things like rock climbing?Meg: I have never been rock climbing. Have you gone rock climbing?Todd: No. Rock climbing looks dangerous. So, I'm still scared.Meg: Yeah,Todd: So, I've never done rock climbing either. What about things like singing and dancing? Do you enjoy singing and dancing?Meg: I enjoy singing, but I'm not very good at it. So, I like singing when I'm alone or in my car. Are you good at singing?Todd: No, I'm terrible at singing. So, I hate singing. I really, really hate singing. But I like going to karaoke and listening to people sing.Meg: Yeah, some people are really good at singing. What about dancing?Todd: I hate dancing too. Yeah, I'm not good at dancing. So, dancing is very embarrassing for me. I don't like it.Meg: I'm not good at dancing either.Todd: Are there any other activities you really dislike doing? Like for me, I hate writing letters. For example, I don't like writing thank you letters. I don't like writing anything with my hand. Typing is okay. I don't mind typing things, but I hate writing.Meg: So, using your hand to write, you hate writing?Todd: Yeah, I like typing. Fingers is okay. Thumb is okay on the phone. I don't mind texting, I don't mind typing. I just don't like physically writing with a pencil or a pen.Meg: Yeah. Pen or a pencil, like writing a letter.Todd: Right. Because my writing is really bad, and it's hard to read. So, it's embarrassing.Meg: I'm sure it's fine.Todd: Yeah. How about you? For example, do you like iron in your clothes?Meg: I don't like having my clothes, but my clothes usually don't need ironing, so I don't have to worry about it too much. I don't like doing laundry. It's related to ironing clothes. So, it takes a long time. And the clothes, I have to dry the clothes. So, doing laundry is a little bit boring for me.Todd: I don't mind doing laundry if I go to the coin laundry, but I hate hanging my laundry out. I hate hanging out my laundry. It takes forever. I don't know why, you put it out, you take it back in, it just takes so much time.Meg: That's funny. I'm kind of the opposite. I don't mind hanging out my laundry, because I like saving money, so I don't have to use money at the coin laundry.Todd: Plus, you are helping the environment.Meg: That's true. I like helping the earth.Todd: Yeah, I should change. Okay. Thanks Meg.Meg: Yeah.

Todd: Meg, I'm going to give you a test.Meg: Okay.Todd: It's a personality test.Meg: Uh-oh.Todd: And we want to know, are you a pack rat?Meg: Am I a pack rat?Todd: Right. Do you save things, do you keep things, or are you a minimalist? Do you have very few things in your house?Meg: Well, I think I try to be a minimalist, but I'm a little bit of a pack rat.Todd: Okay. We'll take the test, let's see. Okay, the first question is, how many books do you have in your house?Meg: Not counting Kindle?Todd: Not counting Kindle. Physical books, how many books do you have?Meg: Physical books, I think I have around 15 books.Todd: Oh. Oh.Meg: Is that a lot?Todd: That's bad.Meg: That's so many?Todd: Yeah.Meg: Really?Todd: So negative-Meg: Uh-oh.Todd: Negative ... Boo. Negative one means pack rat positive one means minimalist. Okay. Next question. How many shoes do you have?Meg: Can I not answer that question?Todd: No. You have to say.Meg: Okay. I think I have 25 pairs of shoes.Todd: Oh my gosh. I'm giving you negative two points.Meg: No, just one.Todd: All right. Next question is, how many blankets do you have?Meg: Blankets? I think I have 10 blankets.Todd: Oh my gosh. I knew you were a pack rat. I knew it, I knew it. Now you're negative five.Meg: But you need blankets for the cold winter.Todd: You only need one blanket.Meg: But if you have friends visiting you, you need more blankets.Todd: Okay.Meg: I have a lot of friends.Todd: Wow. That's a good point. Okay, next question. How many umbrellas do you have?Meg: I think I have around five or six umbrellas.Todd: Wow. And you live alone, correct?Meg: Yes. I live alone.Todd: Okay. So a pack rat is somebody who does not get rid of things they don't need. So, do you need five umbrellas?Meg: I do need those umbrellas.Todd: Why do you need ...Meg: I'll tell you. I'll tell you why. One is a very small umbrella that's easy to carry. Another umbrella is very large for a really rainy day. A third umbrella is decorative and very pretty. The fourth umbrella is for the sun. And the fifth umbrella is clear, to use on a really windy day.Todd: That's interesting. Now, the fourth umbrella, for the sun, that's called a parasol, correct?Meg: I guess so, but that sounds a little old-fashioned.Todd: Okay. I won't consider that. I consider an umbrella for the rain only. So, we'll say four.Meg: Four.Todd: So let's just ...Meg: Do I get a point back?Todd: You do. But let's do a recap. You are single, you live alone.Meg: Yes.Todd: You have four umbrellas.Meg: Yes.Todd: You have 10 blankets.Meg: Yes.Todd: You have 25 pairs of shoes.Meg: Correct.Todd: And you have 15 books?Meg: 15 books.Todd: I'm sorry, Meg, but you qualify as a pack rat.Meg: Oh no.Todd: You are not a minimalist. We're taking away your minimalist membership.Meg: Oh. Well I guess I need to get rid of some things, huh? And what about you? Are you a pack rat or a minimalist?Todd: I'm pretty much a minimalist, I think, because I only have two bags of stuff.Meg: Only two bags?Todd: Yeah. So, you can take everything I have and put it in two big suitcases.Meg: So you don't have 15 books?Todd: No, I have maybe four books.Meg: Only four books.Todd: And they're very small paperback books.Meg: What about blankets?Todd: I have one blanket.Meg: Just one.Todd: Just one.Meg: So if visitors come to your house ...Todd: That is true.Meg: ... they're out of luck.Todd: When somebody comes to my house, I ask my neighbor to borrow a blanket. I do. Why?Meg: You borrow a blanket?Todd: ... is that funny? Yes. This is-Meg: Wow.Todd: I am such a minimalist, my friend told me, he said I am the only person that has ...Meg: One blanket.Todd: No. A spoon and a fork.Meg: A spoon and a fork?Todd: That's it. I have one.Meg: Okay. So basically, your house is not prepared for any visitors.Todd: That's true.Meg: Whereas my house is prepared for many visitors.Todd: That's true.Meg: Okay. Umbrellas?Todd: I have maybe two.Meg: Two. So why two?Todd: Because I can't remember if I have one or I will leave the house and I won't take it, and so then I need to buy one and then...Meg: And then you get rid of one?Todd: No, then I just never buy another one. I'm pretty good.Meg: Oh.Todd: Only two.Meg: Okay.Todd: But shoes?Meg: Shoes.Todd: I only have four pairs of shoes.Meg: What is the purpose of each pair of shoes?Todd: I have one pair of shoes for work. Nice dress shoes. I have two sneakers, one pair of sneakers for running, jogging, one pair of sneakers for fashion, and one pair of Futsal shoes for soccer. That's it. That's it.Meg: Wow. Well, I have to say, you really sound like a minimalist.Todd: Yeah, and you really sound like a pack rat.

Todd: Meg, I'm going to give you a test.Meg: Okay.Todd: It's a personality test.Meg: Uh-oh.Todd: And we want to know, are you a pack rat?Meg: Am I a pack rat?Todd: Right. Do you save things, do you keep things, or are you a minimalist? Do you have very few things in your house?Meg: Well, I think I try to be a minimalist, but I'm a little bit of a pack rat.Todd: Okay. We'll take the test, let's see. Okay, the first question is, how many books do you have in your house?Meg: Not counting Kindle?Todd: Not counting Kindle. Physical books, how many books do you have?Meg: Physical books, I think I have around 15 books.Todd: Oh. Oh.Meg: Is that a lot?Todd: That's bad.Meg: That's so many?Todd: Yeah.Meg: Really?Todd: So negative-Meg: Uh-oh.Todd: Negative ... Boo. Negative one means pack rat positive one means minimalist. Okay. Next question. How many shoes do you have?Meg: Can I not answer that question?Todd: No. You have to say.Meg: Okay. I think I have 25 pairs of shoes.Todd: Oh my gosh. I'm giving you negative two points.Meg: No, just one.Todd: All right. Next question is, how many blankets do you have?Meg: Blankets? I think I have 10 blankets.Todd: Oh my gosh. I knew you were a pack rat. I knew it, I knew it. Now you're negative five.Meg: But you need blankets for the cold winter.Todd: You only need one blanket.Meg: But if you have friends visiting you, you need more blankets.Todd: Okay.Meg: I have a lot of friends.Todd: Wow. That's a good point. Okay, next question. How many umbrellas do you have?Meg: I think I have around five or six umbrellas.Todd: Wow. And you live alone, correct?Meg: Yes. I live alone.Todd: Okay. So a pack rat is somebody who does not get rid of things they don't need. So, do you need five umbrellas?Meg: I do need those umbrellas.Todd: Why do you need ...Meg: I'll tell you. I'll tell you why. One is a very small umbrella that's easy to carry. Another umbrella is very large for a really rainy day. A third umbrella is decorative and very pretty. The fourth umbrella is for the sun. And the fifth umbrella is clear, to use on a really windy day.Todd: That's interesting. Now, the fourth umbrella, for the sun, that's called a parasol, correct?Meg: I guess so, but that sounds a little old-fashioned.Todd: Okay. I won't consider that. I consider an umbrella for the rain only. So, we'll say four.Meg: Four.Todd: So let's just ...Meg: Do I get a point back?Todd: You do. But let's do a recap. You are single, you live alone.Meg: Yes.Todd: You have four umbrellas.Meg: Yes.Todd: You have 10 blankets.Meg: Yes.Todd: You have 25 pairs of shoes.Meg: Correct.Todd: And you have 15 books?Meg: 15 books.Todd: I'm sorry, Meg, but you qualify as a pack rat.Meg: Oh no.Todd: You are not a minimalist. We're taking away your minimalist membership.Meg: Oh. Well I guess I need to get rid of some things, huh? And what about you? Are you a pack rat or a minimalist?Todd: I'm pretty much a minimalist, I think, because I only have two bags of stuff.Meg: Only two bags?Todd: Yeah. So, you can take everything I have and put it in two big suitcases.Meg: So you don't have 15 books?Todd: No, I have maybe four books.Meg: Only four books.Todd: And they're very small paperback books.Meg: What about blankets?Todd: I have one blanket.Meg: Just one.Todd: Just one.Meg: So if visitors come to your house ...Todd: That is true.Meg: ... they're out of luck.Todd: When somebody comes to my house, I ask my neighbor to borrow a blanket. I do. Why?Meg: You borrow a blanket?Todd: ... is that funny? Yes. This is-Meg: Wow.Todd: I am such a minimalist, my friend told me, he said I am the only person that has ...Meg: One blanket.Todd: No. A spoon and a fork.Meg: A spoon and a fork?Todd: That's it. I have one.Meg: Okay. So basically, your house is not prepared for any visitors.Todd: That's true.Meg: Whereas my house is prepared for many visitors.Todd: That's true.Meg: Okay. Umbrellas?Todd: I have maybe two.Meg: Two. So why two?Todd: Because I can't remember if I have one or I will leave the house and I won't take it, and so then I need to buy one and then...Meg: And then you get rid of one?Todd: No, then I just never buy another one. I'm pretty good.Meg: Oh.Todd: Only two.Meg: Okay.Todd: But shoes?Meg: Shoes.Todd: I only have four pairs of shoes.Meg: What is the purpose of each pair of shoes?Todd: I have one pair of shoes for work. Nice dress shoes. I have two sneakers, one pair of sneakers for running, jogging, one pair of sneakers for fashion, and one pair of Futsal shoes for soccer. That's it. That's it.Meg: Wow. Well, I have to say, you really sound like a minimalist.Todd: Yeah, and you really sound like a pack rat.

Todd: Rachel, I thought we would talk a little bit about items and their shelf life, like how long will you keep something? For example, like a book or clothing, because yesterday I was talking to my students and they were surprised when I admitted that the shirt I was wearing, I had had for over 10 years. Now, they're young and they can't imagine that.Rachel: No, that might be a function of being young.Todd: Right, exactly.Rachel: Because their clothes of 10 years ago are obviously too small.Todd: Yeah.Rachel: It depends on the clothes.Todd: Do you like to keep your clothes a long time?Rachel: If I really like them, I might.Todd: Yeah. How often do you toss out your clothes?Rachel: I toss out clothes once or twice a year. I'll go through my wardrobe and throw out things that are too small or have started to look shabby. But there are other things that I just keep year after year after year, probably things people don't see as often like pajamas might last a little longer.Todd: Yeah.Rachel: Some people advise that if you haven't worn something for six months, you should throw it out, but that seems to me to be not logical, given that there are four seasons and they last a year. If you haven't worn something for a year, maybe you should consider throwing it out. But yeah, definitely, at the start of the season, not in the opposite season. You have to think about the weather.Todd: Yeah. What about food? We live in Japan. We're both teachers in Japan. One thing I often wonder about is the sashimi and the sushi, the raw fish. How long can you keep it before you eat it? They say you're supposed to have it that night, but I sometimes eat it the next morning or even for lunch.Rachel: With fish, as well as other meats, I think it's very easy to tell, because you can tell by the smell whether something's good or not. I actually think that rice is more dangerous.Todd: Oh really?Rachel: Yeah, because it will grow bacteria. Because it's been warm, it will grow bacteria easily at room temperature. The rice is the part you need to be careful about.Todd: Oh. Well what about other foods? Like are you somebody who's really strict about the expiration date?Rachel: I'm not. I think the expiration date on most products errs on the side of safety. And another thing is people confuse the best by date with the expiring date.Todd: Right.Rachel: The best by date is just about freshness, flavor. For example with spices ...Todd: And that's the date they put on the package in the store.Rachel: That's often the date that people go by.Todd: Sell by, yeah.Rachel: Yeah, sell by and best by. For example spices might have a best by date. After that, they might plump a little, they might lose a little flavor, but they're not dangerous.Todd: You can still eat it.Rachel: You can still use them, yeah.Todd: My rule is always three days. So, I'll eat anything if it's within ... except for meat, maybe, but anything if it's within three days of the expiration date or the sell-by date on the store's ...Rachel: Oh, I think that matters ... To me it makes an enormous difference what it is. For example, moyashi, which is bean sprouts, I'll eat them on the day or the day after, but not after that. They start getting bad really quickly. But, for example, a jar of pickles, that's going to last much longer than the three days after.Todd: Right. I think the big one, I guess, you're right about time, is dairy. Milk is obvious, because milk you can smell. But cheese ...Rachel: But on the other hand, it just turns into yogurt.Todd: Right, yes. So that's the other one is yogurt. So yogurt, I'll see it in the fridge and I'm like, "How long can I keep this?" Like sometimes it'll be past the expiration date, but it smells fine, it looks fine.Rachel: Well, yogurt is soured milk, so it's difficult to say at which point it sours, because it's already sour.Todd: Yeah, and cheese too lasts forever it seems like.Rachel: Pretty much. You can see the mold on cheese.Todd: Yeah. So what about if you see bread and there's a little mold on the bread?Rachel: No.Todd: Are you old school? Will you cut around it?Rachel: No. I used to and I used to cut the mold off cheese, but having learned more about visible mold is only a small amount of it and parts of mold you can't see are branching into the food.Todd: Oh, I see.Rachel: Yeah. So that makes it a little dodgier. So, no I probably wouldn't eat bread that had any kind of mold on it. And I'm dodgy about cheese to. That's got the wrong sort of mold on it.Todd: Right.Rachel: There's the right sort of mold like a blue cheese, and that's fine.Todd: Right. And I should clarify here, neither of us are medical professionals.Rachel: Don't take this advise.Todd: We're just talking about our own habits here, so ...Rachel: Another thing that ...Todd: What about juice? What about juice? Like how long can you keep juice? Can you smell when juice is bad?Rachel: I don't usually buy juice, so I don't really know.Todd: Oh, yeah.Rachel: Maybe you can smell it.Todd: Maybe you can smell it.Rachel: Yeah, I'd probably toss juice because I'm not experienced enough with it, obviously, to have made my own mind up about it, so I'd probably go by the date with that one.Todd: What's interesting is when you see some foods that you think would last forever, but actually they won't, they just have an expiration date that's way in the future, like canned goods.Rachel: Yes.Todd: Sometimes it's surprising when you're like, "Oh, there actually is an expiration date on there."Rachel: There is.Todd: But it's way in the future.Rachel: It's way in the future, as long as the can's not dented, I think ...Todd: Or rusty, right?Rachel: ... is the rule for that. Yeah.Todd: Yeah. Interesting topic.

Todd: Rachel, I thought we would talk a little bit about items and their shelf life, like how long will you keep something? For example, like a book or clothing, because yesterday I was talking to my students and they were surprised when I admitted that the shirt I was wearing, I had had for over 10 years. Now, they're young and they can't imagine that.Rachel: No, that might be a function of being young.Todd: Right, exactly.Rachel: Because their clothes of 10 years ago are obviously too small.Todd: Yeah.Rachel: It depends on the clothes.Todd: Do you like to keep your clothes a long time?Rachel: If I really like them, I might.Todd: Yeah. How often do you toss out your clothes?Rachel: I toss out clothes once or twice a year. I'll go through my wardrobe and throw out things that are too small or have started to look shabby. But there are other things that I just keep year after year after year, probably things people don't see as often like pajamas might last a little longer.Todd: Yeah.Rachel: Some people advise that if you haven't worn something for six months, you should throw it out, but that seems to me to be not logical, given that there are four seasons and they last a year. If you haven't worn something for a year, maybe you should consider throwing it out. But yeah, definitely, at the start of the season, not in the opposite season. You have to think about the weather.Todd: Yeah. What about food? We live in Japan. We're both teachers in Japan. One thing I often wonder about is the sashimi and the sushi, the raw fish. How long can you keep it before you eat it? They say you're supposed to have it that night, but I sometimes eat it the next morning or even for lunch.Rachel: With fish, as well as other meats, I think it's very easy to tell, because you can tell by the smell whether something's good or not. I actually think that rice is more dangerous.Todd: Oh really?Rachel: Yeah, because it will grow bacteria. Because it's been warm, it will grow bacteria easily at room temperature. The rice is the part you need to be careful about.Todd: Oh. Well what about other foods? Like are you somebody who's really strict about the expiration date?Rachel: I'm not. I think the expiration date on most products errs on the side of safety. And another thing is people confuse the best by date with the expiring date.Todd: Right.Rachel: The best by date is just about freshness, flavor. For example with spices ...Todd: And that's the date they put on the package in the store.Rachel: That's often the date that people go by.Todd: Sell by, yeah.Rachel: Yeah, sell by and best by. For example spices might have a best by date. After that, they might plump a little, they might lose a little flavor, but they're not dangerous.Todd: You can still eat it.Rachel: You can still use them, yeah.Todd: My rule is always three days. So, I'll eat anything if it's within ... except for meat, maybe, but anything if it's within three days of the expiration date or the sell-by date on the store's ...Rachel: Oh, I think that matters ... To me it makes an enormous difference what it is. For example, moyashi, which is bean sprouts, I'll eat them on the day or the day after, but not after that. They start getting bad really quickly. But, for example, a jar of pickles, that's going to last much longer than the three days after.Todd: Right. I think the big one, I guess, you're right about time, is dairy. Milk is obvious, because milk you can smell. But cheese ...Rachel: But on the other hand, it just turns into yogurt.Todd: Right, yes. So that's the other one is yogurt. So yogurt, I'll see it in the fridge and I'm like, "How long can I keep this?" Like sometimes it'll be past the expiration date, but it smells fine, it looks fine.Rachel: Well, yogurt is soured milk, so it's difficult to say at which point it sours, because it's already sour.Todd: Yeah, and cheese too lasts forever it seems like.Rachel: Pretty much. You can see the mold on cheese.Todd: Yeah. So what about if you see bread and there's a little mold on the bread?Rachel: No.Todd: Are you old school? Will you cut around it?Rachel: No. I used to and I used to cut the mold off cheese, but having learned more about visible mold is only a small amount of it and parts of mold you can't see are branching into the food.Todd: Oh, I see.Rachel: Yeah. So that makes it a little dodgier. So, no I probably wouldn't eat bread that had any kind of mold on it. And I'm dodgy about cheese to. That's got the wrong sort of mold on it.Todd: Right.Rachel: There's the right sort of mold like a blue cheese, and that's fine.Todd: Right. And I should clarify here, neither of us are medical professionals.Rachel: Don't take this advise.Todd: We're just talking about our own habits here, so ...Rachel: Another thing that ...Todd: What about juice? What about juice? Like how long can you keep juice? Can you smell when juice is bad?Rachel: I don't usually buy juice, so I don't really know.Todd: Oh, yeah.Rachel: Maybe you can smell it.Todd: Maybe you can smell it.Rachel: Yeah, I'd probably toss juice because I'm not experienced enough with it, obviously, to have made my own mind up about it, so I'd probably go by the date with that one.Todd: What's interesting is when you see some foods that you think would last forever, but actually they won't, they just have an expiration date that's way in the future, like canned goods.Rachel: Yes.Todd: Sometimes it's surprising when you're like, "Oh, there actually is an expiration date on there."Rachel: There is.Todd: But it's way in the future.Rachel: It's way in the future, as long as the can's not dented, I think ...Todd: Or rusty, right?Rachel: ... is the rule for that. Yeah.Todd: Yeah. Interesting topic.

Todd: I'm here with Rachel. We were talking about expiration dates. You were saying that you throw out your clothes regularly.Rachel: Fairly regularly.Todd: Yeah. Do you donate them or just toss them?Rachel: I put them in the recycling.Todd: There you go.Rachel: And hope they're going to be remade into something else.Todd: Yeah, I guess, yeah I always take it out on the day that they'll say that they'll pick up clothes.Rachel: Yeah. The reason for that is because I usually put, throw clothes out when they'll start to look a bit shabby, so I don't think anyone else wants to wear them.Todd: Right.Rachel: By that stage.Todd: What about furniture? How often do you try to get new furniture?Rachel: Almost never.Todd: Yeah.Rachel: That's something I don't ... Yeah, I'll put up with what I've got.Todd: Yeah.Rachel: It seems like such a waste to throw out such large things.Todd: Yeah, but you never want to replace the couch or the chair?Rachel: The couch has been replaced three or four times.Todd: Right.Rachel: That's a big one, but we've still got the same kitchen table. We had got to get some new chairs.Todd: Yeah, I've never been a big furniture guy, but I just when I see something that's really cheap ... I would never buy new furniture. I'm always amazed like who buys new furniture? Because when you walk by a store and you see the furniture, it's so expensive. I'm gonna sound really cheap, but it's like I'm like, wow, why would you pay hundreds of dollars or thousands of dollars for that when you can just buy one used or whatever for ten bucks or twenty bucks?Rachel: I'm definitely a used furniture person now.Todd: Yeah.Rachel: When we moved into our house we did go to a furniture store and bought all new furniture. It's easy. It's done. Everything looks new. It's kind of nice, but I almost exclusively buy second-hand furniture now. Depending on which store you go to, you can get some really good bargains on some beautiful old antique, that look really nice in your house, and cost a fraction of something new.Todd: Yeah. That's why you like anything that's made with metal or wood because you usually think it's going to age well.Rachel: Yes.Todd: Plastic, not so much.Rachel: No, no. I've definitely sworn off plastic. I think plastic's a fill in if you need something quickly.Todd: Yeah.Rachel: And cheaply, but definitely don't like to buy plastic now.Todd: What about electronic goods, like getting a new TV, a new refrigerator, stuff like that? How often do you buy?Rachel: We just wait until that breaks down. That's a pretty easy one.Todd: What about the TV though? The TVs don't break down. They go on forever. How often do you think, oh I want a new TV, I want a new nicer TV?Rachel: Our last TV broke.Todd: It did?Rachel: Well, we had lightning hit the house, and we lost several electronic items.Todd: Wow.Rachel: We lost a keyboard and a computer. I think we lost two out of ... We had three hard disc DV players.Todd: It was an electrical surge that fried all the circuits?Rachel: It fried the house, yeah pretty much.Todd: Wow. I did not know that could happen.Rachel: Yeah.

Todd: I'm here with Rachel. We were talking about expiration dates. You were saying that you throw out your clothes regularly.Rachel: Fairly regularly.Todd: Yeah. Do you donate them or just toss them?Rachel: I put them in the recycling.Todd: There you go.Rachel: And hope they're going to be remade into something else.Todd: Yeah, I guess, yeah I always take it out on the day that they'll say that they'll pick up clothes.Rachel: Yeah. The reason for that is because I usually put, throw clothes out when they'll start to look a bit shabby, so I don't think anyone else wants to wear them.Todd: Right.Rachel: By that stage.Todd: What about furniture? How often do you try to get new furniture?Rachel: Almost never.Todd: Yeah.Rachel: That's something I don't ... Yeah, I'll put up with what I've got.Todd: Yeah.Rachel: It seems like such a waste to throw out such large things.Todd: Yeah, but you never want to replace the couch or the chair?Rachel: The couch has been replaced three or four times.Todd: Right.Rachel: That's a big one, but we've still got the same kitchen table. We had got to get some new chairs.Todd: Yeah, I've never been a big furniture guy, but I just when I see something that's really cheap ... I would never buy new furniture. I'm always amazed like who buys new furniture? Because when you walk by a store and you see the furniture, it's so expensive. I'm gonna sound really cheap, but it's like I'm like, wow, why would you pay hundreds of dollars or thousands of dollars for that when you can just buy one used or whatever for ten bucks or twenty bucks?Rachel: I'm definitely a used furniture person now.Todd: Yeah.Rachel: When we moved into our house we did go to a furniture store and bought all new furniture. It's easy. It's done. Everything looks new. It's kind of nice, but I almost exclusively buy second-hand furniture now. Depending on which store you go to, you can get some really good bargains on some beautiful old antique, that look really nice in your house, and cost a fraction of something new.Todd: Yeah. That's why you like anything that's made with metal or wood because you usually think it's going to age well.Rachel: Yes.Todd: Plastic, not so much.Rachel: No, no. I've definitely sworn off plastic. I think plastic's a fill in if you need something quickly.Todd: Yeah.Rachel: And cheaply, but definitely don't like to buy plastic now.Todd: What about electronic goods, like getting a new TV, a new refrigerator, stuff like that? How often do you buy?Rachel: We just wait until that breaks down. That's a pretty easy one.Todd: What about the TV though? The TVs don't break down. They go on forever. How often do you think, oh I want a new TV, I want a new nicer TV?Rachel: Our last TV broke.Todd: It did?Rachel: Well, we had lightning hit the house, and we lost several electronic items.Todd: Wow.Rachel: We lost a keyboard and a computer. I think we lost two out of ... We had three hard disc DV players.Todd: It was an electrical surge that fried all the circuits?Rachel: It fried the house, yeah pretty much.Todd: Wow. I did not know that could happen.Rachel: Yeah.

Todd: So Rachel, you said that in your home country, New Zealand, there're lots of birds that don't fly?Rachel: Yes, there are a lot of birds that don't fly.Todd: Wow, so I only new of the kiwi and of course the penguin, but I didn't know of other ones. So first the kiwi. It doesn't fly, right?Rachel: That's the famous one.Todd: Right.Rachel: They don't fly but they can run very fast. I've seen them.Todd: Liike and are the kiwi all over? Like are there different types of kiwi?Rachel: Yeah, there are several different varieties. They're very rare though, and they're nocturanal.Todd: Oh, nocturnal.Rachel: I'd say most New Zealanders have never seen one in the wild. I've only seen them in Kiwi parks.Todd: Oh, really.Rachel: Yeah, you don't see them.Todd: So, I thought they'd be like kangaroos in Australia, or something like you go and there's one.Rachel: No, they're very precious and very rare. One that you see more often is the pukeko which is ... it looks a little bit like a stork I suppose except it's dark blue.Todd: What's it called?Rachel: Pukeko.Todd: Pukeko.Rachel: Ah, yeah, and they're a lot more commom. And takahe is another oneTodd: So the first one ...Rachel: You can see them along the side of the road. When you're driving through the countryside they're much more common.Todd: So this pukeko, does it fly?Rachel: No, they don't fly.Todd: Really, and it's like a stork. It has long legs?Rachel: It has quite long legs. Yeah, it a very cute little bird, but it's very dark.Todd: How tall is it? Like up to your knee? Up to your hip?Rachel: Up to your knees.Todd: Really.Rachel: Cute little bird.Todd: That's awesome. So what was the other one you mentioned?Rachel: Takahe. It's very similar looking to that one. It's a little different. It's difficult to tell apart.Todd: Really, and it's also kind of dark blueish.Rachel: Yeah, another one's a kakapo. A very famous one. It's New Zealand's flightless green parrot. It's kind of like a large fat parrot that lives on the ground.Todd: Really.Rachel: It's extremely rare. I'm not sure what the numbers are now, but around twenty years ago I think there were only 45 leftTodd: Oh, that is rare.Rachel: Extremely rare, so there's an intensive breeding program for them, and of course nobody's seen those in the wild.Todd: Yeah, you have to be careful or it'll go like the way of the Tasmanian tiger.Rachel: Yeah, they breed and they nest on the ground. They lay their eggs on the ground, so they're very vulnerable to introduced predators, to any animals.Todd: Yeah, I know that, you don't have snakes, but I know that snakes when they got into Guam they like decimated the bird population.Rachel: Yep. That's what would happen and that's why New Zealand immigration customs is very strict about what kind of animals you can bring in. We don't even have snakes in zoos.Todd: That's smart.Rachel: Michael Jackson famously came to New Zealand in the 1980's and wanted to bring his pet snake with him and he wasn't allowed to.Todd: Oh, good on you.Rachel: There were no exceptions to that rule.Todd: Are there any other birds that don't fly? For example do you have penguins?Rachel: Oh, yes, there's lots of penguins in New Zealand.Todd: In the south right?Rachel: Yeah, in the south. Oh, they come up to the north sometimes.Todd: Really, that far north?Rachel: Yeah, occasionally. The big colonies are down south.Todd: Ah, that's amazing. How cool. Any other birds that don't fly?Rachel: Not that I can think of off the top of my head. I'd have to look it up on the Internet.Todd: No, that's still though ... that's quite a few. That's so nice.Rachel: The most famous was the moa of course.Todd: The moa?Rachel: Which is an ostrich sized bird.Todd: Oh, really.Rachel: Yeah, but they were ... they were killed off before Europeans arrived in New Zealand.Todd: Oh, easy hunting.Rachel: They were easy hunting. Yeah. And a big feast.Todd: It's funny how when you go to a place, you really want to see like a local animal, so last year I went to the Middle East. I went to U.A.E and Oman, and I just wanted to see a camel. I wanted to see a camel so bad, and I thought like I'd go down the road..Rachel: Everyone drives a Mercedes these days.Todd: and there'd be a camel, and I was kind of going out in the countryside. I wasn't just in the city, and I never saw a camel, and I was asking people that work there, and they're like, "yeah, you do see them" but I was just so heartbroken that I never saw a camel.Rachel: Ooh!Todd: It's one of my favorite animals. I just think they look so cool, so when I go to New Zealand, I have to make sure I see a kiwi.Rachel: But you'll have to go to the kiwi house.Todd: The Kiwi House.Rachel: The Kiwi House it's called. Or just look up zoos.Todd: And they got 'em?Rachel: Yep, they got 'em there. But you won't just see them driving around.

Todd: So Rachel, you said that in your home country, New Zealand, there're lots of birds that don't fly?Rachel: Yes, there are a lot of birds that don't fly.Todd: Wow, so I only new of the kiwi and of course the penguin, but I didn't know of other ones. So first the kiwi. It doesn't fly, right?Rachel: That's the famous one.Todd: Right.Rachel: They don't fly but they can run very fast. I've seen them.Todd: Liike and are the kiwi all over? Like are there different types of kiwi?Rachel: Yeah, there are several different varieties. They're very rare though, and they're nocturanal.Todd: Oh, nocturnal.Rachel: I'd say most New Zealanders have never seen one in the wild. I've only seen them in Kiwi parks.Todd: Oh, really.Rachel: Yeah, you don't see them.Todd: So, I thought they'd be like kangaroos in Australia, or something like you go and there's one.Rachel: No, they're very precious and very rare. One that you see more often is the pukeko which is ... it looks a little bit like a stork I suppose except it's dark blue.Todd: What's it called?Rachel: Pukeko.Todd: Pukeko.Rachel: Ah, yeah, and they're a lot more commom. And takahe is another oneTodd: So the first one ...Rachel: You can see them along the side of the road. When you're driving through the countryside they're much more common.Todd: So this pukeko, does it fly?Rachel: No, they don't fly.Todd: Really, and it's like a stork. It has long legs?Rachel: It has quite long legs. Yeah, it a very cute little bird, but it's very dark.Todd: How tall is it? Like up to your knee? Up to your hip?Rachel: Up to your knees.Todd: Really.Rachel: Cute little bird.Todd: That's awesome. So what was the other one you mentioned?Rachel: Takahe. It's very similar looking to that one. It's a little different. It's difficult to tell apart.Todd: Really, and it's also kind of dark blueish.Rachel: Yeah, another one's a kakapo. A very famous one. It's New Zealand's flightless green parrot. It's kind of like a large fat parrot that lives on the ground.Todd: Really.Rachel: It's extremely rare. I'm not sure what the numbers are now, but around twenty years ago I think there were only 45 leftTodd: Oh, that is rare.Rachel: Extremely rare, so there's an intensive breeding program for them, and of course nobody's seen those in the wild.Todd: Yeah, you have to be careful or it'll go like the way of the Tasmanian tiger.Rachel: Yeah, they breed and they nest on the ground. They lay their eggs on the ground, so they're very vulnerable to introduced predators, to any animals.Todd: Yeah, I know that, you don't have snakes, but I know that snakes when they got into Guam they like decimated the bird population.Rachel: Yep. That's what would happen and that's why New Zealand immigration customs is very strict about what kind of animals you can bring in. We don't even have snakes in zoos.Todd: That's smart.Rachel: Michael Jackson famously came to New Zealand in the 1980's and wanted to bring his pet snake with him and he wasn't allowed to.Todd: Oh, good on you.Rachel: There were no exceptions to that rule.Todd: Are there any other birds that don't fly? For example do you have penguins?Rachel: Oh, yes, there's lots of penguins in New Zealand.Todd: In the south right?Rachel: Yeah, in the south. Oh, they come up to the north sometimes.Todd: Really, that far north?Rachel: Yeah, occasionally. The big colonies are down south.Todd: Ah, that's amazing. How cool. Any other birds that don't fly?Rachel: Not that I can think of off the top of my head. I'd have to look it up on the Internet.Todd: No, that's still though ... that's quite a few. That's so nice.Rachel: The most famous was the moa of course.Todd: The moa?Rachel: Which is an ostrich sized bird.Todd: Oh, really.Rachel: Yeah, but they were ... they were killed off before Europeans arrived in New Zealand.Todd: Oh, easy hunting.Rachel: They were easy hunting. Yeah. And a big feast.Todd: It's funny how when you go to a place, you really want to see like a local animal, so last year I went to the Middle East. I went to U.A.E and Oman, and I just wanted to see a camel. I wanted to see a camel so bad, and I thought like I'd go down the road..Rachel: Everyone drives a Mercedes these days.Todd: and there'd be a camel, and I was kind of going out in the countryside. I wasn't just in the city, and I never saw a camel, and I was asking people that work there, and they're like, "yeah, you do see them" but I was just so heartbroken that I never saw a camel.Rachel: Ooh!Todd: It's one of my favorite animals. I just think they look so cool, so when I go to New Zealand, I have to make sure I see a kiwi.Rachel: But you'll have to go to the kiwi house.Todd: The Kiwi House.Rachel: The Kiwi House it's called. Or just look up zoos.Todd: And they got 'em?Rachel: Yep, they got 'em there. But you won't just see them driving around.

Todd: Hey Jen, we're talking about technology. I'm curious. How many times do you check your email every day?Jen: Nowadays I check it every day because I have so many emails coming from my company so I have to be updated, but in the past, I would not check it for like, I would just check it two or three times a week. How about you?Todd: Yes, actually I brought that up because I think this is an interesting generational shift. I don't check Facebook and all that stuff that much, but my generation, we check email multiple times a day for work like you just said. But the younger generation from what I understand, you guys don't even use email.Jen: Yeah, like if you asked me the same question two months ago I would say I hardly check my emails because everything, like all the conversation I have, it's all on Facebook or some other social media, not emails. I think that's very old school.Todd: Yeah. So you do like text messaging, LINE, WhatsApp?Jen: Yeah, all of that.Todd: All of that. How many accounts do you have actively, that you actively use?Jen: Wait. Maybe ... I actively use five of them, but I have eight of them, yeah.Todd: Wow, you can manage that. The reason I don't do it, I imagine that you just must get a message like every 20 seconds.Jen: Not every 20 seconds, unless you're dating, but yeah, you get a lot of messages.Todd: Really? And that doesn't drive you crazy? That doesn't like bother you?Jen: I think in the beginning it was like too much, but now we have just gotten like used to it. It's just very normal for us. It's like you checking your mail three times a day, which is crazy for me.Todd: Yeah, but still. Here the thing is I don't like the phone. I think we've talked about this before. My generation was the fingers generation, so we used our fingers to type. And the younger generation, you use your thumb. And to me it's really slow and just painstaking to do, to communicate with your thumb on the phone.Jen: Really? Because for me I think it's faster than typing.Todd: I know. Actually, I see you guys and it's amazing. I see my students how fast they can use their phone, and it's phenomenal to me. It's like blurry, it's so fast.Jen: I think if you start using your phone more and not your PC then you would be fast at it too, because even if I were to check my mails I don't do it from my PC, I actually do reply to all my emails from my phone itself.Todd: Wow. Actually no, I think it's not true because I've tried. I think it's because I'm older. My phone gets stiff. I mean my phone ... My thumb gets stiff like arthritis or something like it literally stops moving. That's why I'm amazed.Jen: Maybe it's just in your head.Todd: I physically can't do it. No, no, I really like, and when I type I could type really fast, touch type, but I cannot move my thumb that fast. The more, the longer I try I get thumb fatigue like my thumb just stops, the joint won't work anymore.Jen: For me, it's very difficult for me to type really fast. I would rather use my thumb and text.Todd: No, that's cool. Now, these days I don't know if you've realized but you can do voice typing. Have you tried that? Google Docs for example, you don't even have to type anymore. You can just talk in a microphone and with no special software and Google Docs will type what you say.Jen: But then again you have to be very clear because it always makes a lot of mistakes.Todd: Yeah, but you know what's amazing about it, is I had, I was doing it with my students and then I was going to have my student do it and the voice recorder wouldn't take their voice, it would only take my voice.Jen: I think it's because the ...Todd: The user account name?Jen: Yeah, the user account name can only recognize your voice because that's been saved first.Todd: Right, so it saves the first voice, then another one won't work.Jen: Yeah, I guess.Todd: So that brings up the question, technology gets better and better and better. Do you think typing will be obsolete, will be gone in five, 10 years?Jen: I cannot really say but maybe no, not in 10 years. Maybe 20 to 30 years, yes, but not in 10 years, because I think still people are more comfortable writing their books and stuff like reports, just typing. Everybody doesn't like to talk a lot.Todd: True. Yeah, I think there's a different mental process when you type and it's just when you just speak it goes away.Jen: Yeah.

Todd: Hey Jen, we're talking about technology. I'm curious. How many times do you check your email every day?Jen: Nowadays I check it every day because I have so many emails coming from my company so I have to be updated, but in the past, I would not check it for like, I would just check it two or three times a week. How about you?Todd: Yes, actually I brought that up because I think this is an interesting generational shift. I don't check Facebook and all that stuff that much, but my generation, we check email multiple times a day for work like you just said. But the younger generation from what I understand, you guys don't even use email.Jen: Yeah, like if you asked me the same question two months ago I would say I hardly check my emails because everything, like all the conversation I have, it's all on Facebook or some other social media, not emails. I think that's very old school.Todd: Yeah. So you do like text messaging, LINE, WhatsApp?Jen: Yeah, all of that.Todd: All of that. How many accounts do you have actively, that you actively use?Jen: Wait. Maybe ... I actively use five of them, but I have eight of them, yeah.Todd: Wow, you can manage that. The reason I don't do it, I imagine that you just must get a message like every 20 seconds.Jen: Not every 20 seconds, unless you're dating, but yeah, you get a lot of messages.Todd: Really? And that doesn't drive you crazy? That doesn't like bother you?Jen: I think in the beginning it was like too much, but now we have just gotten like used to it. It's just very normal for us. It's like you checking your mail three times a day, which is crazy for me.Todd: Yeah, but still. Here the thing is I don't like the phone. I think we've talked about this before. My generation was the fingers generation, so we used our fingers to type. And the younger generation, you use your thumb. And to me it's really slow and just painstaking to do, to communicate with your thumb on the phone.Jen: Really? Because for me I think it's faster than typing.Todd: I know. Actually, I see you guys and it's amazing. I see my students how fast they can use their phone, and it's phenomenal to me. It's like blurry, it's so fast.Jen: I think if you start using your phone more and not your PC then you would be fast at it too, because even if I were to check my mails I don't do it from my PC, I actually do reply to all my emails from my phone itself.Todd: Wow. Actually no, I think it's not true because I've tried. I think it's because I'm older. My phone gets stiff. I mean my phone ... My thumb gets stiff like arthritis or something like it literally stops moving. That's why I'm amazed.Jen: Maybe it's just in your head.Todd: I physically can't do it. No, no, I really like, and when I type I could type really fast, touch type, but I cannot move my thumb that fast. The more, the longer I try I get thumb fatigue like my thumb just stops, the joint won't work anymore.Jen: For me, it's very difficult for me to type really fast. I would rather use my thumb and text.Todd: No, that's cool. Now, these days I don't know if you've realized but you can do voice typing. Have you tried that? Google Docs for example, you don't even have to type anymore. You can just talk in a microphone and with no special software and Google Docs will type what you say.Jen: But then again you have to be very clear because it always makes a lot of mistakes.Todd: Yeah, but you know what's amazing about it, is I had, I was doing it with my students and then I was going to have my student do it and the voice recorder wouldn't take their voice, it would only take my voice.Jen: I think it's because the ...Todd: The user account name?Jen: Yeah, the user account name can only recognize your voice because that's been saved first.Todd: Right, so it saves the first voice, then another one won't work.Jen: Yeah, I guess.Todd: So that brings up the question, technology gets better and better and better. Do you think typing will be obsolete, will be gone in five, 10 years?Jen: I cannot really say but maybe no, not in 10 years. Maybe 20 to 30 years, yes, but not in 10 years, because I think still people are more comfortable writing their books and stuff like reports, just typing. Everybody doesn't like to talk a lot.Todd: True. Yeah, I think there's a different mental process when you type and it's just when you just speak it goes away.Jen: Yeah.

Todd: So, Jen, the holiday season is coming up, and many cultures give gifts around the New Year's for different holidays. First of all, do you like to give people gifts?Jen: What kind of a person would I be if I said, "No, I don't like people giving people gifts?" But yeah, I'm not really good at choosing gifts for people though.Todd: Why do you think that?Jen: Because every time I go and buy something for someone, I want to buy something that I like, and I would think that it would look good on them or something. But then my friends end up being like, you know? They don't really like the gift so much because it doesn't suit them, or something?Todd: Yeah.Jen: For example, I bought this pair of earrings for this friend, and then I realized that she doesn't really like jewelry and stuff, so she never wore it.Todd: Right, yeah. It's kind of hard to know what they want. Actually, for that reason, I don't like giving gifts at all. I think it's because of my background, like studying economics. It's just, to me, it's inefficient. You're buying something, you don't know if they really want it, and they say, "Oh. It's the thought that counts." But the time that you waste finding the gift and then you give them the gift, and maybe they don't use it. So I'm not a big fan of gift-giving. Even for birthdays.Jen: I actually agree with you. And for me, if it was my birthday, I would rather have someone make a card for me. It would have more value than someone buying gifts for me anyway, you know?Todd: Yeah. I think, like in Asia, it's more common, which I like. And that's kind of the gift you give to somebody when you travel. So if I travel somewhere, I'll pick something up for my mom, from a country I went to. Or somebody ... Let's say they went to Korea or China during their break, they might bring back some special food to the office, and everybody can have a cracker or a cookie, or something like that. I like that.Jen: I'm from Nepal, and here too. In my country too, they would rather give us like, fruits and like different kind of ... Other sweets and stuff rather than clothes and jewelry, you know?Todd: So true. Yeah, actually another thing I like to do is sometimes buy a really nice gift, and then for one year, and then maybe for the next year or two, don't buy the person a gift. For example, like maybe one year, I bought my landlady, who I'm very close to, I bought her an iPad. I'm like, "She's kind of older, and she never had an iPad." So I bought her an iPad, but then the next year, I didn't buy her something really expensive. I bought her like a box of chocolates or something, you know.Jen: In that case, I think it would create a problem, because once you give someone a really special thing, then the next year, they will expect something more, you know?Todd: Yeah.Jen: So like, it'll be really disappointing if they get something that's not very valuable than it was the year before.Todd: Yeah, it's kind of hard to climb back from that, isn't it?Jen: Yeah. Off an iPad? It would be bad.Todd: Though, she's a really nice woman. She definitely ... I don't think she thinks that way at all. She's actually better at giving me gifts. She's always giving me gifts. So, have you gotten any gifts recently for anybody? Are you already planning to get your gifts for the end of the year?Jen: I actually just presented a pair of shoes for my friend, because it was her birthday. The thing is, we don't really celebrate New Year at this time of year. It's kind of different for us, because we celebrate the Lunar ...Todd: Ah right, which is in April, right?Jen: Yes.Todd: Okay, cool.Jen: So haven't really thought about like Christmas gifts or anything.Todd: So in your country, in Nepal, like when do people give gifts? On what occasions?Jen: During our New Year. We have a lot of festivals, so more than gifts, we just invite people and ... you know? Gather around and eat good food, that's it.Todd: Yeah, that's the best.Jen: Yeah, I believe so too.

Todd: So, Jen, the holiday season is coming up, and many cultures give gifts around the New Year's for different holidays. First of all, do you like to give people gifts?Jen: What kind of a person would I be if I said, "No, I don't like people giving people gifts?" But yeah, I'm not really good at choosing gifts for people though.Todd: Why do you think that?Jen: Because every time I go and buy something for someone, I want to buy something that I like, and I would think that it would look good on them or something. But then my friends end up being like, you know? They don't really like the gift so much because it doesn't suit them, or something?Todd: Yeah.Jen: For example, I bought this pair of earrings for this friend, and then I realized that she doesn't really like jewelry and stuff, so she never wore it.Todd: Right, yeah. It's kind of hard to know what they want. Actually, for that reason, I don't like giving gifts at all. I think it's because of my background, like studying economics. It's just, to me, it's inefficient. You're buying something, you don't know if they really want it, and they say, "Oh. It's the thought that counts." But the time that you waste finding the gift and then you give them the gift, and maybe they don't use it. So I'm not a big fan of gift-giving. Even for birthdays.Jen: I actually agree with you. And for me, if it was my birthday, I would rather have someone make a card for me. It would have more value than someone buying gifts for me anyway, you know?Todd: Yeah. I think, like in Asia, it's more common, which I like. And that's kind of the gift you give to somebody when you travel. So if I travel somewhere, I'll pick something up for my mom, from a country I went to. Or somebody ... Let's say they went to Korea or China during their break, they might bring back some special food to the office, and everybody can have a cracker or a cookie, or something like that. I like that.Jen: I'm from Nepal, and here too. In my country too, they would rather give us like, fruits and like different kind of ... Other sweets and stuff rather than clothes and jewelry, you know?Todd: So true. Yeah, actually another thing I like to do is sometimes buy a really nice gift, and then for one year, and then maybe for the next year or two, don't buy the person a gift. For example, like maybe one year, I bought my landlady, who I'm very close to, I bought her an iPad. I'm like, "She's kind of older, and she never had an iPad." So I bought her an iPad, but then the next year, I didn't buy her something really expensive. I bought her like a box of chocolates or something, you know.Jen: In that case, I think it would create a problem, because once you give someone a really special thing, then the next year, they will expect something more, you know?Todd: Yeah.Jen: So like, it'll be really disappointing if they get something that's not very valuable than it was the year before.Todd: Yeah, it's kind of hard to climb back from that, isn't it?Jen: Yeah. Off an iPad? It would be bad.Todd: Though, she's a really nice woman. She definitely ... I don't think she thinks that way at all. She's actually better at giving me gifts. She's always giving me gifts. So, have you gotten any gifts recently for anybody? Are you already planning to get your gifts for the end of the year?Jen: I actually just presented a pair of shoes for my friend, because it was her birthday. The thing is, we don't really celebrate New Year at this time of year. It's kind of different for us, because we celebrate the Lunar ...Todd: Ah right, which is in April, right?Jen: Yes.Todd: Okay, cool.Jen: So haven't really thought about like Christmas gifts or anything.Todd: So in your country, in Nepal, like when do people give gifts? On what occasions?Jen: During our New Year. We have a lot of festivals, so more than gifts, we just invite people and ... you know? Gather around and eat good food, that's it.Todd: Yeah, that's the best.Jen: Yeah, I believe so too.

Todd: So I'm here with Shantel, and we both are from the United States. And we both are teachers in Japan. So I thought we would talk a little bit about some of the stereotypes that people might have in other countries, for example Japan, or other countries about Americans. So first, we're going to talk about hamburgers.Shantel: Okay.Todd: Okay, so hamburgers. How often do you actually eat a hamburger?Shantel: Uh, hamburgers. I would say, it's actually not that often, although I love hamburgers. I love them very much, but maybe only a couple times a month or so.Todd: Yeah, I agree. I think hamburgers is the one thing that does not meet the stereotype, that we don't eat them that often. Like, I never have hamburgers in America.Shantel: Ah, okay.Todd: Pretty much never. Like, I'll have them if somebody's barbecuing it, maybe for a picnic, or something. Um, yeah. And if I do eat fast food it's usually not a hamburger.Shantel: Oh.Todd: I eat something else. Like, I eat tacos or burritos, right.Shantel: Yeah.Todd: I don't eat hamburgers. So that's one. I think hamburgers don't really match the stereotype myth.Shantel: Yeah. I agree.Todd: Do you agree?Shantel: I agree, especially because I know many, many of my students here in Japan, they will ask me often, what I eat for lunch. And before I respond, cause they're playing a joke on me, they'll say like, "Oh, hamburger? Hamburger?"Todd: (laughs), yeah.Shantel: And I have to tell them that, you know, now I do live in Japan, but in the United States I don't typically eat hamburgers every day.Todd: Yeah.Shantel: But that is a lot of what they think. They think that I eat hamburgers regularly or, at least, fast food but their image of fast food is only hamburgers.Todd: So true. And actually,the funny side story to that, or contrary story would be you know, sushi. So we both teach in Japan, and I think most people think that you eat sushi all the time in Japan. And that's almost the equivalent of the hamburger. You don't eat it that much.Shantel: That is so true.Todd: Right?Shantel: So true. I cannot say how true that is.Todd: Or uh, another one, we're talking about um, stereotypes would be sumo. So Japanese people are not that into sumo, really, right, but it's an iconic thing. So that brings us to the point of baseball.Shantel: Ah, yes.Todd: So do you actually like baseball?Shantel: I do. I love baseball. I do, and I used to go to some games in the United States, in San Francisco. I went to several Giants games growing up, yeah. So I do enjoy baseball. Do you enjoy baseball?Todd: I do. I have to admit, like I played you know, baseball when I was younger. I loved baseball, but I do think it's not as popular as people think it is.Shantel: Ah.Todd: You know what I mean?Shantel: Yes.Todd: I think that like, a lot of people like it. You like it, I like it. But a lot of people could care less.Shantel: Yes.Todd: About baseball.Shantel: Most of the time I think I hear people say it's, it's a slow sport, it's boring. No one wants to watch it.Todd: Right.Shantel: They're much more inclined to watch basketball or football instead of baseball.Todd: So true.

Todd: So I'm here with Shantel, and we both are from the United States. And we both are teachers in Japan. So I thought we would talk a little bit about some of the stereotypes that people might have in other countries, for example Japan, or other countries about Americans. So first, we're going to talk about hamburgers.Shantel: Okay.Todd: Okay, so hamburgers. How often do you actually eat a hamburger?Shantel: Uh, hamburgers. I would say, it's actually not that often, although I love hamburgers. I love them very much, but maybe only a couple times a month or so.Todd: Yeah, I agree. I think hamburgers is the one thing that does not meet the stereotype, that we don't eat them that often. Like, I never have hamburgers in America.Shantel: Ah, okay.Todd: Pretty much never. Like, I'll have them if somebody's barbecuing it, maybe for a picnic, or something. Um, yeah. And if I do eat fast food it's usually not a hamburger.Shantel: Oh.Todd: I eat something else. Like, I eat tacos or burritos, right.Shantel: Yeah.Todd: I don't eat hamburgers. So that's one. I think hamburgers don't really match the stereotype myth.Shantel: Yeah. I agree.Todd: Do you agree?Shantel: I agree, especially because I know many, many of my students here in Japan, they will ask me often, what I eat for lunch. And before I respond, cause they're playing a joke on me, they'll say like, "Oh, hamburger? Hamburger?"Todd: (laughs), yeah.Shantel: And I have to tell them that, you know, now I do live in Japan, but in the United States I don't typically eat hamburgers every day.Todd: Yeah.Shantel: But that is a lot of what they think. They think that I eat hamburgers regularly or, at least, fast food but their image of fast food is only hamburgers.Todd: So true. And actually,the funny side story to that, or contrary story would be you know, sushi. So we both teach in Japan, and I think most people think that you eat sushi all the time in Japan. And that's almost the equivalent of the hamburger. You don't eat it that much.Shantel: That is so true.Todd: Right?Shantel: So true. I cannot say how true that is.Todd: Or uh, another one, we're talking about um, stereotypes would be sumo. So Japanese people are not that into sumo, really, right, but it's an iconic thing. So that brings us to the point of baseball.Shantel: Ah, yes.Todd: So do you actually like baseball?Shantel: I do. I love baseball. I do, and I used to go to some games in the United States, in San Francisco. I went to several Giants games growing up, yeah. So I do enjoy baseball. Do you enjoy baseball?Todd: I do. I have to admit, like I played you know, baseball when I was younger. I loved baseball, but I do think it's not as popular as people think it is.Shantel: Ah.Todd: You know what I mean?Shantel: Yes.Todd: I think that like, a lot of people like it. You like it, I like it. But a lot of people could care less.Shantel: Yes.Todd: About baseball.Shantel: Most of the time I think I hear people say it's, it's a slow sport, it's boring. No one wants to watch it.Todd: Right.Shantel: They're much more inclined to watch basketball or football instead of baseball.Todd: So true.

Todd: Hey Jenn, how are you today?Jen: Hi Todd, I'm fine thank you. How are you?Todd: I am doing pretty good. It's kind of getting colder, so I like that, I don't like super hot weather.Jen: Really, it's kind of opposite for me because I really hate that it's getting colder day by day.Todd: Oh you don't like the cooler weather?Jen: No, my fingers start swelling and it's really tough because you cannot really go outside. You just want to stay in your bed all day, you become very unproductive I guess.Todd: Yeah, I guess I can kind of ... Yeah, I know what you mean by that. But, at least in the winter, at least in the fall you can wear warmer clothes so I enjoy that. Although I don't like having to do so much laundry because you wear so many more clothes. In summer, it's just so easy to do your laundry I think.Jen: Yeah, you're talking about warmer clothes. But the thing is, if it was summer you wouldn't really feel like wearing any warm clothes at all because that would be unnecessary. That's why I would rather go for summer than winter.Todd: Well I know, but what I'm saying is that in the summer you don't have to wear so many clothes. You just have a tee-shirt, shorts, that's about it, pants.Jen: Yeah, and your laundry problem would also not exist.Todd: Exactly. Although, I don't have that many clothes anyway. I have the same three pairs of pants that I wear, so that's the benefit of being much older. How about you, do you have lots of clothes?Jen: Yeah, but I think even if I was older I would still have a lot of clothes. Maybe it has to do with me always shopping all the time.Todd: Actually, what do you do with your clothes for the season? Do you pack away your clothes for the season? Do you pack away your winter clothes or your summer clothes?Jen: Yes, actually during winter I pack all my summer clothes and tuck it away somewhere. And during summer, I do the opposite yeah.Todd: Yeah, I now am regretting it so much because in the summer it was so hot this summer and I had these big sweatpants and sweaters and they were taking up space in my closet and I just threw them away. And I knew winter was coming and I would regret it, and now I regret it because I have to go buy all new sweatshirts.Jen: Why would you do that?Todd: I just hate clutter and yeah, it was really short-sighted wasn't it?Jen: Yeah, it was. I'm so sorry, but yeah I'm being blunt but you should have just packed it and put it somewhere you couldn't see so it didn't bother you that much.Todd: I know. About clothing, how often do you keep clothes? So, you're young but you've reached, you're not going to grow too much anymore, right? You can keep your clothes a long time. Unlike me, unless I get fatter, I'm not going to grow any taller because I'm so much older. I keep my clothes sometimes for like ten years.Jen: Ten years?Todd: Yeah. What about your parents? I bet your dad has shirts and pants that he's had for ten years.Jen: Yeah, that's true actually my dad does use old clothes. But sometimes I also use his clothes because I think it's kind of cool.Todd: It is cool.Jen: It's like recycling.Todd: That's sweet, like so what is a piece of clothing that your dad has that you wear sometimes?Jen: Actually the jacket that I was wearing yesterday, I got it from my dad and I wear it so much because I love it.Todd: But so , it's a woman's jacket?Jen: No, it's a guy's jacket but I wear it.Todd: Oh really, it was his jacket?Jen: Yes.Todd: Oh really? Okay, that is cool.Jen: And I miss him a lot so that just reminds me of him and that's why I like to wear it a lot.Todd: That's really nice. How about your mom, do you share clothes with your mother?Jen: I'm very thin and she's not so thin, so we cannot share the same clothes.Todd: Yeah. My stepfather and I used to always be the same size, and now I'm a little bit bigger than him. And he says that his pants are only 34 inches, which is quite small in America, and I'm like there's no way. It looks like we're the same size, but we're not I guess.Jen: I mean I could wear my moms clothes, like I did my dad's, because, but then you cannot really do that because if you wear your mom's clothes it will just look like you borrowed clothes from someone. But if you wear your dad's clothes it will look cooler I guess.Todd: Right, yeah. I know what you mean. That's cool, how about your friends, do you share clothes with your friends?Jen: No, not with my friends but with my cousins, sisters, yeah.Todd: Oh really, oh nice.

Todd: Hey Jenn, how are you today?Jen: Hi Todd, I'm fine thank you. How are you?Todd: I am doing pretty good. It's kind of getting colder, so I like that, I don't like super hot weather.Jen: Really, it's kind of opposite for me because I really hate that it's getting colder day by day.Todd: Oh you don't like the cooler weather?Jen: No, my fingers start swelling and it's really tough because you cannot really go outside. You just want to stay in your bed all day, you become very unproductive I guess.Todd: Yeah, I guess I can kind of ... Yeah, I know what you mean by that. But, at least in the winter, at least in the fall you can wear warmer clothes so I enjoy that. Although I don't like having to do so much laundry because you wear so many more clothes. In summer, it's just so easy to do your laundry I think.Jen: Yeah, you're talking about warmer clothes. But the thing is, if it was summer you wouldn't really feel like wearing any warm clothes at all because that would be unnecessary. That's why I would rather go for summer than winter.Todd: Well I know, but what I'm saying is that in the summer you don't have to wear so many clothes. You just have a tee-shirt, shorts, that's about it, pants.Jen: Yeah, and your laundry problem would also not exist.Todd: Exactly. Although, I don't have that many clothes anyway. I have the same three pairs of pants that I wear, so that's the benefit of being much older. How about you, do you have lots of clothes?Jen: Yeah, but I think even if I was older I would still have a lot of clothes. Maybe it has to do with me always shopping all the time.Todd: Actually, what do you do with your clothes for the season? Do you pack away your clothes for the season? Do you pack away your winter clothes or your summer clothes?Jen: Yes, actually during winter I pack all my summer clothes and tuck it away somewhere. And during summer, I do the opposite yeah.Todd: Yeah, I now am regretting it so much because in the summer it was so hot this summer and I had these big sweatpants and sweaters and they were taking up space in my closet and I just threw them away. And I knew winter was coming and I would regret it, and now I regret it because I have to go buy all new sweatshirts.Jen: Why would you do that?Todd: I just hate clutter and yeah, it was really short-sighted wasn't it?Jen: Yeah, it was. I'm so sorry, but yeah I'm being blunt but you should have just packed it and put it somewhere you couldn't see so it didn't bother you that much.Todd: I know. About clothing, how often do you keep clothes? So, you're young but you've reached, you're not going to grow too much anymore, right? You can keep your clothes a long time. Unlike me, unless I get fatter, I'm not going to grow any taller because I'm so much older. I keep my clothes sometimes for like ten years.Jen: Ten years?Todd: Yeah. What about your parents? I bet your dad has shirts and pants that he's had for ten years.Jen: Yeah, that's true actually my dad does use old clothes. But sometimes I also use his clothes because I think it's kind of cool.Todd: It is cool.Jen: It's like recycling.Todd: That's sweet, like so what is a piece of clothing that your dad has that you wear sometimes?Jen: Actually the jacket that I was wearing yesterday, I got it from my dad and I wear it so much because I love it.Todd: But so , it's a woman's jacket?Jen: No, it's a guy's jacket but I wear it.Todd: Oh really, it was his jacket?Jen: Yes.Todd: Oh really? Okay, that is cool.Jen: And I miss him a lot so that just reminds me of him and that's why I like to wear it a lot.Todd: That's really nice. How about your mom, do you share clothes with your mother?Jen: I'm very thin and she's not so thin, so we cannot share the same clothes.Todd: Yeah. My stepfather and I used to always be the same size, and now I'm a little bit bigger than him. And he says that his pants are only 34 inches, which is quite small in America, and I'm like there's no way. It looks like we're the same size, but we're not I guess.Jen: I mean I could wear my moms clothes, like I did my dad's, because, but then you cannot really do that because if you wear your mom's clothes it will just look like you borrowed clothes from someone. But if you wear your dad's clothes it will look cooler I guess.Todd: Right, yeah. I know what you mean. That's cool, how about your friends, do you share clothes with your friends?Jen: No, not with my friends but with my cousins, sisters, yeah.Todd: Oh really, oh nice.

Todd: So what are some fun holidays you celebrate in Australia?Megen: Well, we have Australia Day. And it is a public holiday, so on that day we go to the beach, and we do various Australian kind of things. We have barbecues and picnics, and it's a day to wear the flag colors.Todd: So it's your patriotic day?Megen: Yeah, it is.Todd: Like our fourth of July.Megen: Yes, yeah, like that. We don't usually have fireworks though.Todd: Oh, because of fires?Megen: No, I don't know why we don't, but I guess fireworks are popular on the Fourth of July right?Todd: They are, although these days they don't do it so much because of fires.Megen: Oh, it's summer in July.Todd: Right, so it's dangerous. ... what about other holidays like for example Valentine's Day? Do you celebrate Valentine's Day?Megen: Yeah, we do.Todd: Is it a romantic day?Megen: Yeah, so for Valentine's Day, usually you'll go out with your partner for dinner ... usually chocolate and flowers. It's pretty extravagant actually. The flowers are becoming more and more extravagant, and people like to send bunches of flowers to their partners work, and there's decorations and a lot of the products in the store are aimed at Valentine's Day I think.Todd: What do you think of Valentine's Day?Megen: Well, I didn't want to get caught up in everything when I was in Australia. I would go out for dinner sometimes, but nothing big.Todd: Now in Japan they have two days. They have Valentine's Day and they have White Day. Can you explain that?Megen: Yeah, well, I was surprised that is the day when the girls are supposed to give something to the boys.Todd: Right, it's reversed.Megen: Yeah, because I think in Australia on Valentine's Day, it's very important for boys to give something to girls, but not necessarily as important for girls to give something for boys.Todd: So when do boys give something to girls?Megen: So that is what White Day is for. So the White Day is the day is the day for the boys to reciprocate the action of giving chocolate or something to their partner, and the students are school as well, they will exchange chocolates or candies that they've made and they will give something back on White Day.Todd: Yeah, it's kind of nice how they flip it around. I actually like that it's broken up.Megen: It gives you time to think about what to do, maybe.Todd: Right, exactly.

Todd: So what are some fun holidays you celebrate in Australia?Megen: Well, we have Australia Day. And it is a public holiday, so on that day we go to the beach, and we do various Australian kind of things. We have barbecues and picnics, and it's a day to wear the flag colors.Todd: So it's your patriotic day?Megen: Yeah, it is.Todd: Like our fourth of July.Megen: Yes, yeah, like that. We don't usually have fireworks though.Todd: Oh, because of fires?Megen: No, I don't know why we don't, but I guess fireworks are popular on the Fourth of July right?Todd: They are, although these days they don't do it so much because of fires.Megen: Oh, it's summer in July.Todd: Right, so it's dangerous. ... what about other holidays like for example Valentine's Day? Do you celebrate Valentine's Day?Megen: Yeah, we do.Todd: Is it a romantic day?Megen: Yeah, so for Valentine's Day, usually you'll go out with your partner for dinner ... usually chocolate and flowers. It's pretty extravagant actually. The flowers are becoming more and more extravagant, and people like to send bunches of flowers to their partners work, and there's decorations and a lot of the products in the store are aimed at Valentine's Day I think.Todd: What do you think of Valentine's Day?Megen: Well, I didn't want to get caught up in everything when I was in Australia. I would go out for dinner sometimes, but nothing big.Todd: Now in Japan they have two days. They have Valentine's Day and they have White Day. Can you explain that?Megen: Yeah, well, I was surprised that is the day when the girls are supposed to give something to the boys.Todd: Right, it's reversed.Megen: Yeah, because I think in Australia on Valentine's Day, it's very important for boys to give something to girls, but not necessarily as important for girls to give something for boys.Todd: So when do boys give something to girls?Megen: So that is what White Day is for. So the White Day is the day is the day for the boys to reciprocate the action of giving chocolate or something to their partner, and the students are school as well, they will exchange chocolates or candies that they've made and they will give something back on White Day.Todd: Yeah, it's kind of nice how they flip it around. I actually like that it's broken up.Megen: It gives you time to think about what to do, maybe.Todd: Right, exactly.

Todd: So Megen we are talking about Holidays and Christmas and in the last interview we talked the difference between Christmas in a cold country and a warm country, so now I thought we would talk about Christmas in countries that aren't really Christian countries. They don't really celebrate it for religious reasons. So we're in Japan and it's interesting that in Japan it's a romantic day, right?Megen: Yes. Yeah, it is.Todd: It's like Valentine's DayMegen: Yes, you have to spend Christmas with your partner.Todd: Right, and everybody looks forward to it - to go out on a date and give each other gifts, and yeah.Megen: Yeah, yeah, I think the fireworks are for the boyfriend and girlfriend and I think, and I think there are a lot of decorations that are similar to like Valentine's actually.Todd: Yeah, it's interesting because they have the Christmas decoration everywhere, but nobody gets the day off. No families celebrate it really.Megen: Yeah, it's a regular day.Todd: Except eating the chicken dinner, which we talked about -- the fried chicken dinner. Yeah, so it's kind of like one of those like I call it a soft holiday. Like in America a soft holiday would be St Patrick's Day. Like everybody has to go to work but you do something that day related to the holiday even though you have no historical connection to it at all.Megen: Ah, I see.Todd: So for example on St Patrick's Day you drink green beer and you wear green. Like, do you do that in Australia?Megen: Ah, that started to become a thing in Australia that the bars do tend to have green beer, and you have green clothing that you might wear and people go out. It's definitely a drinking holiday. Not a holiday though.Todd: Right, are there any other holidays that you've absorbed into Australia?Megen: Well, people are starting to celebrate Halloween more these days and people take their kids trick or treating.Todd: Oh, really?Megen: Yeah! Not everyone does it, though I think that some people like to put a sign on their front door to say that trick-or-treaters are welcome because generally, we don't do that kind of thing in Australia, but the departments, the department stores are having more decorations and it's definitely infiltrating from America I think.Todd: Oh, that's interesting. So, in America Halloween is a big time to have parties. Do you have parties?Megen: I think more and more people are having parties. They have their own party in their house with decorations and costumes, but it's hard to say how many people celebrate Halloween really.Todd: Well, what about costumes? Did you wear a costume?Megen: I never wore a costume in Australia. I had never celebrated Halloween, but I noticed that some of my friends, and friends with children, they are celebrating it more, and it's becoming just a chance to have a party and dress up.Todd: As an English teacher did you dress up here in Japan?Megen: Yes, I did actually. Twice.Todd: Oh, you did. Did you like it?Megen: I did. It was fun to dress up. I dressed up as a character from a Jubilee movie, and it was really good to get together with my friends and to go out. Have you ever dressed up before?Todd: Oh, countless times. Countless. Yeah, so as a kid it was a big thing definitely in America.

Todd: So Megen we are talking about Holidays and Christmas and in the last interview we talked the difference between Christmas in a cold country and a warm country, so now I thought we would talk about Christmas in countries that aren't really Christian countries. They don't really celebrate it for religious reasons. So we're in Japan and it's interesting that in Japan it's a romantic day, right?Megen: Yes. Yeah, it is.Todd: It's like Valentine's DayMegen: Yes, you have to spend Christmas with your partner.Todd: Right, and everybody looks forward to it - to go out on a date and give each other gifts, and yeah.Megen: Yeah, yeah, I think the fireworks are for the boyfriend and girlfriend and I think, and I think there are a lot of decorations that are similar to like Valentine's actually.Todd: Yeah, it's interesting because they have the Christmas decoration everywhere, but nobody gets the day off. No families celebrate it really.Megen: Yeah, it's a regular day.Todd: Except eating the chicken dinner, which we talked about -- the fried chicken dinner. Yeah, so it's kind of like one of those like I call it a soft holiday. Like in America a soft holiday would be St Patrick's Day. Like everybody has to go to work but you do something that day related to the holiday even though you have no historical connection to it at all.Megen: Ah, I see.Todd: So for example on St Patrick's Day you drink green beer and you wear green. Like, do you do that in Australia?Megen: Ah, that started to become a thing in Australia that the bars do tend to have green beer, and you have green clothing that you might wear and people go out. It's definitely a drinking holiday. Not a holiday though.Todd: Right, are there any other holidays that you've absorbed into Australia?Megen: Well, people are starting to celebrate Halloween more these days and people take their kids trick or treating.Todd: Oh, really?Megen: Yeah! Not everyone does it, though I think that some people like to put a sign on their front door to say that trick-or-treaters are welcome because generally, we don't do that kind of thing in Australia, but the departments, the department stores are having more decorations and it's definitely infiltrating from America I think.Todd: Oh, that's interesting. So, in America Halloween is a big time to have parties. Do you have parties?Megen: I think more and more people are having parties. They have their own party in their house with decorations and costumes, but it's hard to say how many people celebrate Halloween really.Todd: Well, what about costumes? Did you wear a costume?Megen: I never wore a costume in Australia. I had never celebrated Halloween, but I noticed that some of my friends, and friends with children, they are celebrating it more, and it's becoming just a chance to have a party and dress up.Todd: As an English teacher did you dress up here in Japan?Megen: Yes, I did actually. Twice.Todd: Oh, you did. Did you like it?Megen: I did. It was fun to dress up. I dressed up as a character from a Jubilee movie, and it was really good to get together with my friends and to go out. Have you ever dressed up before?Todd: Oh, countless times. Countless. Yeah, so as a kid it was a big thing definitely in America.

Todd: So Megen, we are both teachers, English teachers in Japan, and we both come from countries that have Christmas, but Christmas is so different in Japan than in our home countries, so I thought we would talk about that.Megen: Yeah, absolutely. It's particularly different to Australia because we have ... we have it in summer.Todd: Oh, that's right. So it's a beautiful summer holiday, right?Megen: It is, though when it gets hotter here in Japan, I start to feel that it's getting into the Christmas season.Todd: Oh, right! So summer is Christmas.Megen: Yes, yeah.Todd: That's so cool. Do you still do the Christmas tree and the gifts under the tree?Megen: We do and we have a lot of the same Christmas traditions, but the food is pretty different. We eat a lot of fresh fruits, and we have like fresh prawns. I guess you might call them shrimps.Todd: Right, no we call them prawns too. Prawns or shrimp. Wow! That's interesting. You know, it's cool that you brought upfood because we're both in Japan and I think it's very interesting that in Japan the Christmas dinner is fried chicken.Megen: Yeah! I can't imagineeating KFC or any kind of chicken for Christmas.Todd: Now did you know about this before you came to Japan?Megen: I didn't actually. I was shocked when I heard about it.Todd: Yeah, I didn't believe it at first, and then when I came to Japan, I saw the long lines outside KFC, and I thought, wow, this really is a thing. And now in Japan, not only do they have KFC chicken, but everywhere. So the supermarkets make fried chicken. The convenience stores have fried chicken. Other hamburger stores have fried chicken, all just for Christmas.Megen: Yeah, yes, I don't think we usually eat chicken. Maybe some families would eat roast chicken, but usually, we eat cold meats.Todd: Oh, right, so Australia is fresh fruit, shrimp, and cold meats.Megen: Yeah, we have a few Australian desserts that I haven't seen in any other countries, but I think in Australia there's a lot of variety though, so my family in particular, that's what we eat, but I think every family is different. How about in America?Todd: Ah, in America it's very close to Thanksgiving, so usually you have a big bird, so you have turkey or chicken or ham. Ham is a big one. So you might have baked ham. But you have lots of sweets, lots of cakes, Christmas cakes, pies, cookies. Things like that. So everybody gains a lot of weight. Do you eat a lot of sweets for Christmas in Australia?Megen: Well, I imagine they eat more baked goods in America, but we eat a lot of cold, like a parfait, kind of desserts. With a mix of like sponge cake and jelly and cream, and we do eat cookies and different like chocolate sweets, and yeah, I think we do some baking but, yeah, not so many pies.Todd: So in Australia, because it's so warm, do you spend the day at the beach?Megen: We do! Yeah, a lot of people have pools. Their own pools, so they will go swimming in their backyard, or they'll go to the beach, or play cricket outside.Todd: That's great! So do you barbecue? Is Barbecue a common way?Megen: Yeah! Especially for Christmas. It's really great to be outside. And there are barbecues you can use near the beach or in the parks, so a lot of people go outside and mingle with the locals. It's great.Todd: Oh, that's fantastic. So in the Northern Hemisphere, Christmas is often associated with snow, so you have the snowman and things like that. Do you have those types of decorations in Australia?Megen: We do! Although we don't have any snow, we still have the snow decoration. And usually, Santa Claus still wears the long sleeve winter clothing, although we do have our own version of Santa Claus, which wears singlets and shorts.Todd: That's nice. So you've lived in a country with a warm Christmas and a country with a cold Christmas. Which do you prefer?Megen: Well, I think because I've spent so many Christmases in Australia, that I still feel like it's Christmas when it gets warmer, and when I see things like peaches and watermelon in the season I want to celebrate Christmas.Todd: That's so cool.Megen: Do you want to experience a Christmas in Australia?Todd: I do. I do! That is definitely on my bucket list now, to have a warm-weather Christmas.Megen: It would be so strange for you!

Todd: So Megen, we are both teachers, English teachers in Japan, and we both come from countries that have Christmas, but Christmas is so different in Japan than in our home countries, so I thought we would talk about that.Megen: Yeah, absolutely. It's particularly different to Australia because we have ... we have it in summer.Todd: Oh, that's right. So it's a beautiful summer holiday, right?Megen: It is, though when it gets hotter here in Japan, I start to feel that it's getting into the Christmas season.Todd: Oh, right! So summer is Christmas.Megen: Yes, yeah.Todd: That's so cool. Do you still do the Christmas tree and the gifts under the tree?Megen: We do and we have a lot of the same Christmas traditions, but the food is pretty different. We eat a lot of fresh fruits, and we have like fresh prawns. I guess you might call them shrimps.Todd: Right, no we call them prawns too. Prawns or shrimp. Wow! That's interesting. You know, it's cool that you brought upfood because we're both in Japan and I think it's very interesting that in Japan the Christmas dinner is fried chicken.Megen: Yeah! I can't imagineeating KFC or any kind of chicken for Christmas.Todd: Now did you know about this before you came to Japan?Megen: I didn't actually. I was shocked when I heard about it.Todd: Yeah, I didn't believe it at first, and then when I came to Japan, I saw the long lines outside KFC, and I thought, wow, this really is a thing. And now in Japan, not only do they have KFC chicken, but everywhere. So the supermarkets make fried chicken. The convenience stores have fried chicken. Other hamburger stores have fried chicken, all just for Christmas.Megen: Yeah, yes, I don't think we usually eat chicken. Maybe some families would eat roast chicken, but usually, we eat cold meats.Todd: Oh, right, so Australia is fresh fruit, shrimp, and cold meats.Megen: Yeah, we have a few Australian desserts that I haven't seen in any other countries, but I think in Australia there's a lot of variety though, so my family in particular, that's what we eat, but I think every family is different. How about in America?Todd: Ah, in America it's very close to Thanksgiving, so usually you have a big bird, so you have turkey or chicken or ham. Ham is a big one. So you might have baked ham. But you have lots of sweets, lots of cakes, Christmas cakes, pies, cookies. Things like that. So everybody gains a lot of weight. Do you eat a lot of sweets for Christmas in Australia?Megen: Well, I imagine they eat more baked goods in America, but we eat a lot of cold, like a parfait, kind of desserts. With a mix of like sponge cake and jelly and cream, and we do eat cookies and different like chocolate sweets, and yeah, I think we do some baking but, yeah, not so many pies.Todd: So in Australia, because it's so warm, do you spend the day at the beach?Megen: We do! Yeah, a lot of people have pools. Their own pools, so they will go swimming in their backyard, or they'll go to the beach, or play cricket outside.Todd: That's great! So do you barbecue? Is Barbecue a common way?Megen: Yeah! Especially for Christmas. It's really great to be outside. And there are barbecues you can use near the beach or in the parks, so a lot of people go outside and mingle with the locals. It's great.Todd: Oh, that's fantastic. So in the Northern Hemisphere, Christmas is often associated with snow, so you have the snowman and things like that. Do you have those types of decorations in Australia?Megen: We do! Although we don't have any snow, we still have the snow decoration. And usually, Santa Claus still wears the long sleeve winter clothing, although we do have our own version of Santa Claus, which wears singlets and shorts.Todd: That's nice. So you've lived in a country with a warm Christmas and a country with a cold Christmas. Which do you prefer?Megen: Well, I think because I've spent so many Christmases in Australia, that I still feel like it's Christmas when it gets warmer, and when I see things like peaches and watermelon in the season I want to celebrate Christmas.Todd: That's so cool.Megen: Do you want to experience a Christmas in Australia?Todd: I do. I do! That is definitely on my bucket list now, to have a warm-weather Christmas.Megen: It would be so strange for you!

Aimee: OK, so hey Todd, so I have a question. I've noticed recently in the U.K. that this holiday called Black Friday has appeared, and this is a new thing for us. I don't really know why it has appeared. I think it is American. Shops just give super discounts in November and people are going crazy for like TVs and stuff. Do you have experience with this?Todd: Yeah, unfortunately, I think it is one of our worst exports. Like I am not a fan of Black Friday. We've had it now probably for like ten or twenty years. I can't remember but it started where the department stores would have these massive sales on Friday which is the day after Thanksgiving, which is always on a Thursday in November.Aimee: Ah, that's the connection. OK, after Thanksgiving.Todd: Right, and I think it was called Black Friday because that was the day that the stores could show that they had a profit for the year, or something like that.Aimee: OK, so it's blatantly all about money?Todd: Oh, totally and originally, what they would do is they would entice people with really good bargains, but then they kept ratcheting upthe bargain, so now they have these really, really low teaser products, like they only offer ten TVs or something like that for like twenty bucks.Aimee: Oh, so it's like a limited, a really limited supply of really good deals?Todd: Yeah, and so then what you do is you get these huge crowds that converge on these stores, and then they open the doors and people rush in and literally it's a free-for-all. You have fights and it's so crazy.Aimee: I've seen that. I've seen videos and clips, and it started happening in the U.K. nowTodd: Oh, no!Aimee: And I can't believe it that people can be so greedy.Todd: And especially what's bothersome is that you're with your family on a holiday. You're having a good time, and then you go to war practically. You know what I mean?Aimee: Yeah, with strangersTodd: Yeah.Aimee: Or your neighbor even. It doesn't matter who it is, just fighting over a cheap TV.Todd: I mean, I'm proud to say I've never been to a Black Friday.Aimee: Me neither. Me neither.Todd: So I guess that's hypocritical for me to say that because you know, since I've never been to a Black Friday. I've only seen it, but I just don't like going to shopping malls and to, like, department stores very much - big box stores. I'm just not a shopper.Aimee: So you prefer online shopping?Todd: I just prefer not shopping at all. Like I don't care like what I dress or how I dress. So, like, I buy my clothes at a supermarket. You know. I know, I'm not the most fashionable person, but as for Black Friday, you know, I think a lot of times, parents what to get stuff for their kids, you know, they want to get that special gift. Maybe I think that's what attracts a lot of the crowds.Aimee: Yeah, it is, you know, once Thanksgiving is over then it's the build-upto Christmas, so of course there's the stress of preparing everything in time for that. It's hard to resist really good bargains, I guess if you're trying to be careful with your money. You're trying to be sensible or there's those gifts that, you know your child really wants, so I can understand people feel a lot of pressure to do that.Todd: I mean, some of the stores, look like they've been through a hurricane after the crowds go through it. It's crazy.Aimee: It does sound awful. Doesn't sound like my idea of a good time.Todd: No. Now there is one option though if you don't want to face the crowds and all the hysteria, you can do what's called Cyber Monday.Aimee: OK.Todd: Do you have Cyber Monday?Aimee: No, I'm not familiar with it.Todd: So Cyber Monday - I think it's the Monday after Black Friday - and you just get all the deals online over a 24 hour period.Aimee: OK, is like this remainder, leftover stock? Or is this like a new ...?Todd: No, this is just the online stuff, so I think it's just, you know, the Amazons and all the online stores, that they want to have their deals that people can buy.Aimee: They wanted a piece of the action, basically.Todd: Yeah, yeah. Exactly so they can make it super, super ...Aimee: It's too much!Todd: Yeah.Aimee: It is all too much.Todd: I know, we should have like a, you know, I don't know, a cut back on spending. But if you cut back on spending, then you're hurting the economy, right, so ...Aimee: I know. It's true.Todd: Yeah!

Aimee: OK, so hey Todd, so I have a question. I've noticed recently in the U.K. that this holiday called Black Friday has appeared, and this is a new thing for us. I don't really know why it has appeared. I think it is American. Shops just give super discounts in November and people are going crazy for like TVs and stuff. Do you have experience with this?Todd: Yeah, unfortunately, I think it is one of our worst exports. Like I am not a fan of Black Friday. We've had it now probably for like ten or twenty years. I can't remember but it started where the department stores would have these massive sales on Friday which is the day after Thanksgiving, which is always on a Thursday in November.Aimee: Ah, that's the connection. OK, after Thanksgiving.Todd: Right, and I think it was called Black Friday because that was the day that the stores could show that they had a profit for the year, or something like that.Aimee: OK, so it's blatantly all about money?Todd: Oh, totally and originally, what they would do is they would entice people with really good bargains, but then they kept ratcheting upthe bargain, so now they have these really, really low teaser products, like they only offer ten TVs or something like that for like twenty bucks.Aimee: Oh, so it's like a limited, a really limited supply of really good deals?Todd: Yeah, and so then what you do is you get these huge crowds that converge on these stores, and then they open the doors and people rush in and literally it's a free-for-all. You have fights and it's so crazy.Aimee: I've seen that. I've seen videos and clips, and it started happening in the U.K. nowTodd: Oh, no!Aimee: And I can't believe it that people can be so greedy.Todd: And especially what's bothersome is that you're with your family on a holiday. You're having a good time, and then you go to war practically. You know what I mean?Aimee: Yeah, with strangersTodd: Yeah.Aimee: Or your neighbor even. It doesn't matter who it is, just fighting over a cheap TV.Todd: I mean, I'm proud to say I've never been to a Black Friday.Aimee: Me neither. Me neither.Todd: So I guess that's hypocritical for me to say that because you know, since I've never been to a Black Friday. I've only seen it, but I just don't like going to shopping malls and to, like, department stores very much - big box stores. I'm just not a shopper.Aimee: So you prefer online shopping?Todd: I just prefer not shopping at all. Like I don't care like what I dress or how I dress. So, like, I buy my clothes at a supermarket. You know. I know, I'm not the most fashionable person, but as for Black Friday, you know, I think a lot of times, parents what to get stuff for their kids, you know, they want to get that special gift. Maybe I think that's what attracts a lot of the crowds.Aimee: Yeah, it is, you know, once Thanksgiving is over then it's the build-upto Christmas, so of course there's the stress of preparing everything in time for that. It's hard to resist really good bargains, I guess if you're trying to be careful with your money. You're trying to be sensible or there's those gifts that, you know your child really wants, so I can understand people feel a lot of pressure to do that.Todd: I mean, some of the stores, look like they've been through a hurricane after the crowds go through it. It's crazy.Aimee: It does sound awful. Doesn't sound like my idea of a good time.Todd: No. Now there is one option though if you don't want to face the crowds and all the hysteria, you can do what's called Cyber Monday.Aimee: OK.Todd: Do you have Cyber Monday?Aimee: No, I'm not familiar with it.Todd: So Cyber Monday - I think it's the Monday after Black Friday - and you just get all the deals online over a 24 hour period.Aimee: OK, is like this remainder, leftover stock? Or is this like a new ...?Todd: No, this is just the online stuff, so I think it's just, you know, the Amazons and all the online stores, that they want to have their deals that people can buy.Aimee: They wanted a piece of the action, basically.Todd: Yeah, yeah. Exactly so they can make it super, super ...Aimee: It's too much!Todd: Yeah.Aimee: It is all too much.Todd: I know, we should have like a, you know, I don't know, a cut back on spending. But if you cut back on spending, then you're hurting the economy, right, so ...Aimee: I know. It's true.Todd: Yeah!

Todd: OK, Meg, let's talk about idioms related to the body.Meg: Ooh!Todd: So we have lots of idioms in English that we use for specific meanings, so to learn these idioms, we'll just talk about them by asking each other questions.Meg: OK.Todd: OK, the first one is about dating, so should a man always foot the bill on a date?Meg: Well, I think I'm a little bit of a traditionalist in that maybe at the beginning or the first date the man should foot the bill, but after that, if you're in a relationship, it doesn't really seem fair for the man to pay all the time. Do you agree?Todd: Yeah, I agree, I mean on a date I feel awkward if I don't pay the bill, so yeah. The man should foot the bill on the first date.Meg: Hmm!Todd: So the next one related to feet is when you dance, do you have two left feet?Meg: Yes, I definitely have two left feet. I'm not a good dancer by any means and I don't really enjoy it so I think I look a little awkward when I'm dancing. What about you?Todd: Yeah, I definitely have two left feet. Yeah, I just look like a mess on the dance floor, so and I don't enjoy it, and I think because I'm nervous I want to get out of there, so yeah.Meg: Right. I understand your feeling.Todd: Not my ... Alright so also related to feet is the leg, so in your city, what costs an arm and a leg?Meg: In my city where I live right now, I feel like fruit costs an arm and a leg. It can be quite expensive, especially if you want fruit that's out of season, but in my hometown, in America, you can usually get fruit very cheap, so it feels like it costs an arm and a leg here. What about for you?Todd: Yeah, the city I live in now is in Japan, and it's also very expensive. Taxis cost an arm and a leg, so to take a taxi ride is so expensive. In America where I'm from, I would say healthcare costs an arm and a leg. It's so expensive - crazy expensive.Meg: Right, much more ...Todd: You never want to get sick.Meg: Yes.Todd: Even health insurance costs an arm and a leg. It's very, very costly.Meg: I agree with that.Todd: Alright, let's now talk about feelings. So, is it OK to give people the cold shoulder sometimes?Meg: Hmm, well ...Todd: Nobody likes the cold shoulder.Meg: Right, nobody likes the cold shoulder. I don't think we should give people the cold shoulder, however, I have to admit that I have sometimes given a friend or a family member the cold shoulder when I've been upset about something.Todd: Yeah, the whole thing about the cold shoulder, is actually you do want them to talk to you. You just want them to feel bad.Meg: Right. Yes.Todd: Right?Meg: Yeah, it's kind of passive-aggressive.Todd: Exactly, like I'm mad at you, but I really just want you to see that I'm mad at you and give me attention and I'm happy.Meg: Right, yes, you want to make it clear that you're mad ...Todd: Yeah, exactlyMeg: by giving the cold shoulder.Todd: Right.Meg: Have you ever given someone the cold shoulder?Todd: Oh, yeah, I can be very moody, so I've definitely given people the cold shoulder. And then I'm embarrassed sometimes afterward, like why did I do that? That's so bad.Meg: Yeah, you feel a little guilty later.Todd: Yeah, so we're both teachers. Do you ever give students the cold shoulder?Meg: No, I don't think I would ever give a student the cold shoulder because if they have questions or need help, I want to be able to assist them, so that's a little different I think. What about you?Todd: Yeah, no totally. Like the students give me the cold shoulder, right?Meg: Ah, yes.Todd: So you know that something's wrong, but yeah teachers can't give students the cold shoulder.Meg: No, you can't.Todd: It's impossible. Or it shouldn't be done.Meg: Mmm.Todd: Alright, those were some interesting points.

Todd: OK, Meg, let's talk about idioms related to the body.Meg: Ooh!Todd: So we have lots of idioms in English that we use for specific meanings, so to learn these idioms, we'll just talk about them by asking each other questions.Meg: OK.Todd: OK, the first one is about dating, so should a man always foot the bill on a date?Meg: Well, I think I'm a little bit of a traditionalist in that maybe at the beginning or the first date the man should foot the bill, but after that, if you're in a relationship, it doesn't really seem fair for the man to pay all the time. Do you agree?Todd: Yeah, I agree, I mean on a date I feel awkward if I don't pay the bill, so yeah. The man should foot the bill on the first date.Meg: Hmm!Todd: So the next one related to feet is when you dance, do you have two left feet?Meg: Yes, I definitely have two left feet. I'm not a good dancer by any means and I don't really enjoy it so I think I look a little awkward when I'm dancing. What about you?Todd: Yeah, I definitely have two left feet. Yeah, I just look like a mess on the dance floor, so and I don't enjoy it, and I think because I'm nervous I want to get out of there, so yeah.Meg: Right. I understand your feeling.Todd: Not my ... Alright so also related to feet is the leg, so in your city, what costs an arm and a leg?Meg: In my city where I live right now, I feel like fruit costs an arm and a leg. It can be quite expensive, especially if you want fruit that's out of season, but in my hometown, in America, you can usually get fruit very cheap, so it feels like it costs an arm and a leg here. What about for you?Todd: Yeah, the city I live in now is in Japan, and it's also very expensive. Taxis cost an arm and a leg, so to take a taxi ride is so expensive. In America where I'm from, I would say healthcare costs an arm and a leg. It's so expensive - crazy expensive.Meg: Right, much more ...Todd: You never want to get sick.Meg: Yes.Todd: Even health insurance costs an arm and a leg. It's very, very costly.Meg: I agree with that.Todd: Alright, let's now talk about feelings. So, is it OK to give people the cold shoulder sometimes?Meg: Hmm, well ...Todd: Nobody likes the cold shoulder.Meg: Right, nobody likes the cold shoulder. I don't think we should give people the cold shoulder, however, I have to admit that I have sometimes given a friend or a family member the cold shoulder when I've been upset about something.Todd: Yeah, the whole thing about the cold shoulder, is actually you do want them to talk to you. You just want them to feel bad.Meg: Right. Yes.Todd: Right?Meg: Yeah, it's kind of passive-aggressive.Todd: Exactly, like I'm mad at you, but I really just want you to see that I'm mad at you and give me attention and I'm happy.Meg: Right, yes, you want to make it clear that you're mad ...Todd: Yeah, exactlyMeg: by giving the cold shoulder.Todd: Right.Meg: Have you ever given someone the cold shoulder?Todd: Oh, yeah, I can be very moody, so I've definitely given people the cold shoulder. And then I'm embarrassed sometimes afterward, like why did I do that? That's so bad.Meg: Yeah, you feel a little guilty later.Todd: Yeah, so we're both teachers. Do you ever give students the cold shoulder?Meg: No, I don't think I would ever give a student the cold shoulder because if they have questions or need help, I want to be able to assist them, so that's a little different I think. What about you?Todd: Yeah, no totally. Like the students give me the cold shoulder, right?Meg: Ah, yes.Todd: So you know that something's wrong, but yeah teachers can't give students the cold shoulder.Meg: No, you can't.Todd: It's impossible. Or it shouldn't be done.Meg: Mmm.Todd: Alright, those were some interesting points.

Todd: So Meg, we are talking about clothes, and you always look nice at work. You have a very nice fashion sense.Meg: Oh, thank you.Todd: So you must go shopping a lot.Meg: I do go shopping sometimes. It's fun to go shopping and buy new clothes especially when it's a new season.Todd: Like what do you like to wear per season? For example, what do you like to wear in winter?Meg: In the winter, it's pretty cold. So I like to wear sweaters. Sometimes, a t-shirt with a sweater over it to stay warm. Lots of long-sleeve shirts. I like to wear long-sleeve shirts. And I still wear skirts in the winter. So sometimes, I wear tights underneath the skirts to stay warm.Todd: What about dresses? Do you like to wear dresses?Meg: I do like to wear dresses. In the winter, it's a good time actually to wear sweater-dresses. They're warm and a dress, so it's nice for work.Todd: Sweater-dresses.Meg: Have you seen a sweater-dress before?Todd: I have no idea what a sweater-dress is. What is a sweater-dress?Meg: It's a dress but made of sweater material.Todd: Ah.Meg: So sweater-cloth made into a dress. So it's very warm.Todd: Okay. I was picturing a sweater with a skirt attached to it.Meg: [Laughs] You might find that but I think a sweater-dress is a little different.Todd: Okay. What about… What about in the summer?Meg: In the summer, I love to wear flip-flops. It's my favorite thing to wear. So I often wear flip-flops with jeans or shorts, skirts again. I don't wear tights in the summer because it's too hot.Todd: Right. Do you wear flip-flops to work?Meg: I can't wear flip-flops to work. So when I go to work, I often wear high heels or flats, some dress shoes.Todd: Okay. So do you like to wear shorts or skirts. Which do you prefer?Meg: I prefer shorts because it's more comfortable and easy to move around. But I also can't wear shorts to work. So I have many summer skirts for work.Todd: Okay. Now, let's talk about shoes. So women often have many types of shoes, high heels, boots, flats, like you just said, sneakers. So what kind of shoes besides flip-flops do you like to wear?Meg: I do have many pairs of shoes and so I like to wear flats and sandals especially in the summer. In the winter, I like to wear boots and rain shoes when it rains or rain boots. When I'm exercising, I like to wear sneakers or tennis shoes because it's good for your feet.Todd: Oh right. Now you travel a lot, we both travel a lot. What shoes do you usually take when you travel?Meg: When I travel, I usually take flats because they're easy to remove at the airport and they're light and convenient for traveling.Todd: Oh, right.Meg: What shoes do you usually use?Todd: Just my sneakers. So my sneakers I wear everywhere. Now, women sometimes have accessories, you know, like earrings, necklaces, scarves, things like that. What do you like to wear?Meg: I like to wear necklaces especially long necklaces. I don't like necklaces that are too short. It feels uncomfortable. I don't like to wear bracelets or a watch because I don't like anything on my wrist, but I do love to wear rings. I usually wear one ring each hand, just for fashion, not for anything special.Todd: Oh that's nice. Cool. Well anyway, thanks, Meg.Meg: Thank you.

Todd: So Meg, we are talking about clothes, and you always look nice at work. You have a very nice fashion sense.Meg: Oh, thank you.Todd: So you must go shopping a lot.Meg: I do go shopping sometimes. It's fun to go shopping and buy new clothes especially when it's a new season.Todd: Like what do you like to wear per season? For example, what do you like to wear in winter?Meg: In the winter, it's pretty cold. So I like to wear sweaters. Sometimes, a t-shirt with a sweater over it to stay warm. Lots of long-sleeve shirts. I like to wear long-sleeve shirts. And I still wear skirts in the winter. So sometimes, I wear tights underneath the skirts to stay warm.Todd: What about dresses? Do you like to wear dresses?Meg: I do like to wear dresses. In the winter, it's a good time actually to wear sweater-dresses. They're warm and a dress, so it's nice for work.Todd: Sweater-dresses.Meg: Have you seen a sweater-dress before?Todd: I have no idea what a sweater-dress is. What is a sweater-dress?Meg: It's a dress but made of sweater material.Todd: Ah.Meg: So sweater-cloth made into a dress. So it's very warm.Todd: Okay. I was picturing a sweater with a skirt attached to it.Meg: [Laughs] You might find that but I think a sweater-dress is a little different.Todd: Okay. What about… What about in the summer?Meg: In the summer, I love to wear flip-flops. It's my favorite thing to wear. So I often wear flip-flops with jeans or shorts, skirts again. I don't wear tights in the summer because it's too hot.Todd: Right. Do you wear flip-flops to work?Meg: I can't wear flip-flops to work. So when I go to work, I often wear high heels or flats, some dress shoes.Todd: Okay. So do you like to wear shorts or skirts. Which do you prefer?Meg: I prefer shorts because it's more comfortable and easy to move around. But I also can't wear shorts to work. So I have many summer skirts for work.Todd: Okay. Now, let's talk about shoes. So women often have many types of shoes, high heels, boots, flats, like you just said, sneakers. So what kind of shoes besides flip-flops do you like to wear?Meg: I do have many pairs of shoes and so I like to wear flats and sandals especially in the summer. In the winter, I like to wear boots and rain shoes when it rains or rain boots. When I'm exercising, I like to wear sneakers or tennis shoes because it's good for your feet.Todd: Oh right. Now you travel a lot, we both travel a lot. What shoes do you usually take when you travel?Meg: When I travel, I usually take flats because they're easy to remove at the airport and they're light and convenient for traveling.Todd: Oh, right.Meg: What shoes do you usually use?Todd: Just my sneakers. So my sneakers I wear everywhere. Now, women sometimes have accessories, you know, like earrings, necklaces, scarves, things like that. What do you like to wear?Meg: I like to wear necklaces especially long necklaces. I don't like necklaces that are too short. It feels uncomfortable. I don't like to wear bracelets or a watch because I don't like anything on my wrist, but I do love to wear rings. I usually wear one ring each hand, just for fashion, not for anything special.Todd: Oh that's nice. Cool. Well anyway, thanks, Meg.Meg: Thank you.

Todd: So Meg, do you live in a house or an apartment?Meg: I live in an apartment near the train station.Todd: Oh, you live downtown.Meg: I do.Todd: Do you like living downtown?Meg: I do like living downtown because it's so convenient. Everything is close by, grocery stores, the mall, the station.Todd: Oh, that's great. So what about your apartment? Do you have a nice apartment?Meg: It's a nice apartment, but it's really small.Todd: Oh yeah? How many rooms?Meg: Well, there are three rooms. But each room is pretty small. There's a bedroom, a sitting room like a living room, and the kitchen room.Todd: Oh, wow. So in your bedroom, like, do you have a big queen size bed, a small bed?Meg: I have a small twin size bed or a single bed in the bedroom because it's pretty small. So there's not much space for a big bed.Todd: All right. So do you have a TV in your bedroom?Meg: No. Actually, I don't own a TV at all.Todd: Really? So there's no TV in the living room, too.Meg: There's no TV anywhere in the apartment.Todd: Wow. What do you do in your house?Meg: I have a laptop computer. So usually, I can watch some TV shows or videos on my laptop.Todd: All right. Okay. Do you like to watch movies in bed?Meg: Yeah. Sometimes I like to watch movies in bed or sometimes I prefer to sit in the living room and watch movies.Todd: Right. So you must have high-speed Internet.Meg: I do. Yes. I have an Internet box that my laptop can connect to.Todd: Okay. Cool. Do you have a nice big sofa?Meg: I have two small sofas. So you can push them together to make one big sofa or you can keep them separate. Usually, I keep them separate because there's more room for people to sit on.Todd: Okay. Now, you like to cook. So you must have a nice kitchen.Meg: Unfortunately, I have a very tiny kitchen.Todd: Oh no. How do you cook?Meg: I have to use some extra tables to have more space. The counter is really small, so there's not much space. So I have an extra table I use for preparing the food.Todd: Okay. Do you have an oven?Meg: I have a very small toaster oven. So it's not really an oven.Todd: All right. So do you have a microwave?Meg: I do have a microwave and a small refrigerator and one burner, like a stove top burner.Todd: Okay. Do you cook every night?Meg: I don't cook every night. Sometimes, I'm too busy. And sometimes because my kitchen is so small, I get a little frustrated. So I just pick up some food from a restaurant.Todd: All right. Now, you live in an apartment, so how many floors does your apartment building have?Meg: The building has five floors and I live on the fifth floor.Todd: Nice. Fifth floor.Meg: Yeah. The view is nice, but unfortunately, there's no elevator.Todd: Oh no.Meg: So you always have to take the stairs.Todd: Wow. Five flights of stairs.Meg: Five flights of stairs every day. But it's good exercise.Todd: So you're on the fifth floor. Do you have a balcony?Meg: I have a small balcony where my washing machine is and I can also hang out my laundry out there.Todd: Oh cool, washing machine is outside.Meg: It is outside. It's a little different from my house in America.Todd: So from your view, what can you see?Meg: I can see the train station from one window and all the restaurants downtown. And from a different window, I can see the mountains.Todd: Oh nice. Yeah, the mountains are nice.Meg: Yeah, it's really pretty.

Todd: So Meg, do you live in a house or an apartment?Meg: I live in an apartment near the train station.Todd: Oh, you live downtown.Meg: I do.Todd: Do you like living downtown?Meg: I do like living downtown because it's so convenient. Everything is close by, grocery stores, the mall, the station.Todd: Oh, that's great. So what about your apartment? Do you have a nice apartment?Meg: It's a nice apartment, but it's really small.Todd: Oh yeah? How many rooms?Meg: Well, there are three rooms. But each room is pretty small. There's a bedroom, a sitting room like a living room, and the kitchen room.Todd: Oh, wow. So in your bedroom, like, do you have a big queen size bed, a small bed?Meg: I have a small twin size bed or a single bed in the bedroom because it's pretty small. So there's not much space for a big bed.Todd: All right. So do you have a TV in your bedroom?Meg: No. Actually, I don't own a TV at all.Todd: Really? So there's no TV in the living room, too.Meg: There's no TV anywhere in the apartment.Todd: Wow. What do you do in your house?Meg: I have a laptop computer. So usually, I can watch some TV shows or videos on my laptop.Todd: All right. Okay. Do you like to watch movies in bed?Meg: Yeah. Sometimes I like to watch movies in bed or sometimes I prefer to sit in the living room and watch movies.Todd: Right. So you must have high-speed Internet.Meg: I do. Yes. I have an Internet box that my laptop can connect to.Todd: Okay. Cool. Do you have a nice big sofa?Meg: I have two small sofas. So you can push them together to make one big sofa or you can keep them separate. Usually, I keep them separate because there's more room for people to sit on.Todd: Okay. Now, you like to cook. So you must have a nice kitchen.Meg: Unfortunately, I have a very tiny kitchen.Todd: Oh no. How do you cook?Meg: I have to use some extra tables to have more space. The counter is really small, so there's not much space. So I have an extra table I use for preparing the food.Todd: Okay. Do you have an oven?Meg: I have a very small toaster oven. So it's not really an oven.Todd: All right. So do you have a microwave?Meg: I do have a microwave and a small refrigerator and one burner, like a stove top burner.Todd: Okay. Do you cook every night?Meg: I don't cook every night. Sometimes, I'm too busy. And sometimes because my kitchen is so small, I get a little frustrated. So I just pick up some food from a restaurant.Todd: All right. Now, you live in an apartment, so how many floors does your apartment building have?Meg: The building has five floors and I live on the fifth floor.Todd: Nice. Fifth floor.Meg: Yeah. The view is nice, but unfortunately, there's no elevator.Todd: Oh no.Meg: So you always have to take the stairs.Todd: Wow. Five flights of stairs.Meg: Five flights of stairs every day. But it's good exercise.Todd: So you're on the fifth floor. Do you have a balcony?Meg: I have a small balcony where my washing machine is and I can also hang out my laundry out there.Todd: Oh cool, washing machine is outside.Meg: It is outside. It's a little different from my house in America.Todd: So from your view, what can you see?Meg: I can see the train station from one window and all the restaurants downtown. And from a different window, I can see the mountains.Todd: Oh nice. Yeah, the mountains are nice.Meg: Yeah, it's really pretty.