22 Sides
22 Sides is a podcast that will let you get to know some fascinating people and keep up with many things that are happening in and around the Houston area.
22 Sides
Knowledge, Quirky Families, and Learning to Love Your Monsters
What if our greatest failures are actually doorways to our most authentic lives? In this deeply reflective conversation, we're joined by Mel, who shares her journey of growing up in what she lovingly describes as "the Adams Family" – a household of eccentric intellectuals who valued knowledge above all else.
Mel's family shaped her unique perspective on life's ups and downs: "Money comes and goes, but knowledge is the thing that you hang on to." This philosophy has guided her through a creative career spanning film, camera work, and now digital archiving and preservation.
The heart of our discussion explores the concept of failure and how we respond to it. With remarkable self-awareness, Mel acknowledges her "psychotically determined" nature – recognizing both its power and its potential toxicity. We travel through fascinating examples, including how Pete Buttigieg's presidential campaign "failure" ultimately led him to a cabinet position perfectly matched to his skills as a former mayor.
Perhaps most importantly, we examine how maintaining composure during confrontation becomes a superpower. "You can act mad, but you can't be mad," Mel advises those entering advocacy spaces. This distinction between expressing emotions authentically versus being controlled by them offers wisdom applicable to any meaningful dialogue.
Mel leaves us with a powerful thought to carry forward: "Learn to love your mistakes and your ugly sides a little bit more, because your ugly sides need some love too." In embracing our whole selves – failures, flaws, and all – we discover the pathway to living more authentically every day.
Join us for this thoughtful exploration of resilience, self-acceptance, and finding meaning in life's unexpected detours. What failures might actually be redirecting you toward something better?
We hope you will listen often.
For more information, visit our website 22sides.com
So I'm going to make some noise and adjust the mic. Oh, there you go. Adjust the mic, adjust the mic.
Mel:Adjust the mic, you can keep talking. There's more ASMR, asmr. Hello, we're here today Listening Post pizza and boy, you're probably good for not actually having to smell my breath right now, but I can't say the same for Alexis. I'm moving away rapidly.
Robin:You know it's moving away rapidly you know it's moving away rapidly to the side, other side of the room you were saying that you grew up on books, that that was a huge focus of your family. Yeah, you know that was a very valuable asset and what led you from cruising sections in the bookstore, finding the lgbt section, going into media of all sorts because I kind of came into your chapter when you were already into film, into camera work, into um, and now starting the podcast.
Mel:So what got you so excited about all these platforms well, and now I'm getting into digital archiving and preservation. The older I get, older I get but and that's kind of related but I will say I always tell people that I, basically my family, was the Adams family. I grew up with people who which?
Robin:character were you. Well only you all change characters.
Mel:Only my gynecologist knows for sure. But but it's. It's like you come from these people who act like they were deposed royalty from like russia or something, even though they basically grew up working class a lot of times, like my grandmother, uh, went to kansas to have her child, which I'm pretty sure was. In those days where it's like, oh, you're having a kid and you're not married, or something.
Robin:Yeah, we have to send you off on vacation.
Mel:Yeah, we have to send you on vacation here.
Mel:She started having kids when she was 14. So it's like from a guy in New Zealand which she doesn't never like to talk about much, so I can only imagine how fun that relationship was, right, um, and this is a woman who had already been around the world, right, she grew up in Thailand until she was four. Didn't realize her parents were her parents, cause she was raised by the help. At one point in the family there was money, um, yeah, but then, you know, uh, her dad, who was a pilot, uh, divorced her mom and her mom became a secretary, and so then that's the point where the family, you know, was more of working class, is struggling, right, okay, from then on, and so all these things in her early years kind of impacted her and it got her to marry a Danish American, because if you've been to Thailand at all, there's a huge fetish for blonde-haired, blue-eyed people and I can only imagine its opposites attract. But that was a joke and the family was like, yeah, she was brainwashed at an early age.
Mel:You know, I mean, I'm just saying there is a whole industry in Thailand. Next podcast, next podcast.
Alexis:It's a little behind the paywall, exactly Behind the paywall.
Mel:Please donate to the communities who will tell you the dirty jokes. There you go, you know, but anyway. So you have this whole international influence in the family anyway right there, you are influenced freaks, artists, women who didn't, uh, adhere to the commonalities of the time, like there were a lot of female pilots. In our family line, too, there were people who went back to the beginning of california, so it was like we had a lot of diversity. We had a lot of insanity, old bravery.
Mel:Exactly no filters, the exact kind of aristocratic mindset that you would expect from complete weirdos, the fun old school weirdos that you only see in movies like my man Godfrey. There you go, and so that's the kind of people I come from. It's like people who valued knowledge, books and history over money Because they just felt like well, money happens right.
Robin:It happens to you. It's either there or it isn't there.
Mel:It comes and goes. It comes and goes, but knowledge is the thing that you hang on to in life and it teaches you how to survive and have a sense of humor, and you have to work to acquire it.
Alexis:You can read Absolutely. You can observe, observe, you can apply it or not Exactly, yeah, but I'm pretty good at observing as well as reading. But you know it sort of works You're really good at the application of knowledge though.
Mel:Well, actually, I am there you go. That application of knowledge Well, actually, I am there you go. That's the difference, folks is, between being a weirdos who appreciate knowledge and then actually having the determination to apply it. My family, at a certain point in their family line, didn't do that well on the application, so that's what you struggle with. Um, also, it ranged between having person eyes that were so I would describe my own as kind of like psychotically determined at times, because I've always been able to push myself when I needed to to achieve a goal.
Alexis:So it was like a very few barriers. It can be a great thing.
Mel:It can be a very unhealthy thing at times too.
Robin:That's good to admit that's good too. That's good to admit that's good to admit.
Mel:That's good to admit.
Robin:But that's the part of the whole thing. Here's where it's a green flag, here's where it's a green and a red flag, here's where it's a strength, and then here's where it's toxic.
Mel:And I tell that to people all the time because they admire me for some like losing weight or doing knowledge, gaining knowledge, doing teaching that sort of thing but I tell you it's like everyone has the ability to do these things. It's really just how much you push yourself to actually do it, you know, and if you actually are serious about interested in this stuff, you do eventually get there. Whether it takes you time because of different things maybe ADHD or other things you just have to find the way that works for you to get there.
Alexis:So you're much kinder on that than I am.
Mel:I figured I've learned to be kind. What's your take?
Alexis:I may not think that everyone has the ability to do that.
Robin:What would you think?
Alexis:A lot of people do not have the ability to acquire knowledge easily, and even with a lot of work, it is very difficult for them. Now, part of that is how you define knowledge, because there's probably something they're excellent at and the key is those people that are thinking about it need to figure out what that is and try to direct them that direction. Then I would totally agree with you. But it's also not something they have to spend a lot of effort to do if it's something that they're actually good at and capable of. But a lot of people are out there beating their head against the wall on something that they have absolutely no talent for whatsoever.
Mel:Oh yeah, that makes sense.
Alexis:And they actually keep doing the same thing over and over and you know it's like, oh, they'll buy.
Mel:Definition of insanity.
Alexis:Yes, they'll buy this online class that's going to teach them how to fill in the blank. Yeah, and then they'll buy another one because this one didn't work. And then they'll buy another one because that one didn't work. And then they'll buy another one because that one didn't work, and then they'll buy another one. And at this point you're starting to get to the bit of okay, look, this is not an investment.
Mel:It's an expense and it's not going. Well. That's where the scientist side of it comes in, because you've got to be willing to fail. You have to be willing to try different things and be like. I love doing that at work, where it's like okay, I'm going to put together a tripod or I'm going to do this thing I've never done before. Let's try it one way. That didn't work. Uh, nearly blew up the wall. Okay, let's try it another way.
Robin:Well, and you're, you're. I mean, I'm just, I'm just, I'm just listening, because I think that you're somebody who really truly has put one foot in front of the other over and over again. You don't gloss over your shortcomings, you keep going. But it's not just how does someone apply something, it's also how does someone go through failure. What would you say that your method is for, that Like, if you could pinpoint it at this point, because you're used to troubleshooting when you don't know how to turn something technical on, and not beating yourself up but maybe not everyone is right and like something that simple Cause I think once you get to multiple platforms, you might be taking for granted a little bit like how much endurance you have in that.
Mel:I mean, different people have different pain thresholds. That's what I've learned. That's true. That's true.
Robin:So when you're in like a failure moment, like how do you work through that?
Mel:It depends Like. Most of the time it's pretty unflappable against majority of stuff in life, but I think that's because after when I finally started getting to the fun part of life when you're older.
Robin:And how old are you for listeners if they can't judge by your voice?
Mel:I was born in the heady many days of 1985. So you know a lot of people do not consider that old. But then also my mom describes me as you were born a bitter, 60-year-old divorcee. So I agree it. You were born a bitter, 60 year old divorcee, so I agree I came out being like well, this is an ideal.
Mel:These people are obviously fools and I'm gonna have to learn to work with them and that's how I've been ever since, but you know, once you accept that side of life, you're like, okay, this isn't ideal, but you have to realize that when you fail you have a more fun life. You actually do. When you take the wrong turn down a road in Arizona that could lead to a drug cartel, you're not sure, and then your car breaks down. Well, that was a more exciting trip than you would have had if you had had no trouble at all.
Robin:You know that's the most lot of sense. A lot of people are afraid to fail, maybe because they're risk adverse or because they think you know the fear of failure just gets so built up that you lose curiosity.
Alexis:Think about it this way, you're also afraid to do anything.
Robin:Right, you don't think it could go awesome, you don't think it could be a wild adventure. You know, you don't think about that sometimes whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
Mel:I say whatever doesn't kill you makes you more interesting. Okay, because largely human beings can be boring as crap. But if you have, a lot of failures in your life like look at Lincoln.
Robin:He kept failing his ass all over the place, just fail forward.
Mel:You did this one thing and you finally succeeded, and then you got shot in a theater.
Alexis:But people still talk about you.
Mel:A lot of it has to do with the last one being a success. You know, I've always hoped that I have a really interesting demise, like if I don't have it natural I'm going to try and orchestrate it.
Alexis:So how would you design your own demise? I?
Mel:think I'm going to try and hire someone to steal my body and like go on some kind of grand, like orchestrate a search for it and try and figure out what's going on, and then if we could leave it in a conspiracy theory, all the better, like just burn it on a boat somewhere.
Robin:Hypothetically. She hasn't thought about it at all.
Mel:I haven't served the ticket.
Alexis:We know several of your friends. Why would you have to hire someone? Well, that's, true I could probably get a bunch of them to do it for free, because they would just be tickled. Yeah, but it's signing the ndas.
Mel:That gets difficult because they're awfully also deeply suspicious people what ndas?
Alexis:it didn't happen, so you don't need an nda, you don't need an DA.
Mel:It didn't happen.
Robin:So says the NDA. So what's a good year for this? You know it's coming.
Alexis:Give me another five to ten and we'll see how it's going.
Mel:I can see it all.
Alexis:Now Someone saying okay, I'm Mel's executor, let me do two more. Oh my God.
Mel:I found this podcast and I'm starting to wonder why did I do?
Alexis:this. Why did I do this? Why did I do this?
Robin:Maybe that's like why you technically don't have to tell someone if they're your executor.
Mel:You know Well it could be. I have a feeling most people who know me will expect that kind of thing from me. That's why you don't tell them there you go. There you go, surprise. You don't need to tell them. Sometimes people are better off not knowing.
Alexis:Then they won't worry about it.
Mel:Exactly. It's like the DNA tests they have now to determine you know who you might be related to all over the place, or your genealogy. Well, you may find some things out that you really didn't want to know.
Alexis:Well, the problem I have with that is they tell the other person too. Yeah, exactly.
Mel:Not even that They'll tell several other tech companies and various governments Exactly.
Alexis:I mean, if it was something that I'm giving it all back and nobody else sees it? Okay now, now I'm curious, yeah, otherwise it's like you're gonna tell them too, right?
Mel:no, no, no, no, no you're gonna tell a lot of people this. It's kind of like putting your personal diary from childhood out there for publication.
Alexis:No, it's stuff you didn't even know before.
Mel:There you go so you don't know. Your parents' diary on you Exactly.
Robin:Beyond the things they didn't talk about, the things they didn't remember.
Alexis:And then you have to get to wondering about this relative that I apparently had from this other part of the world, uh-oh, hmm.
Mel:I wonder who that was. Oh yeah, who had the affair? The one visitor that?
Robin:one time oh yeah. Alexis, you've been really achieved in life, but you haven't all had it paved in gold, like how do you deal with failure? If you could pinpoint some of those things.
Alexis:I get mad crying. Try to kill people.
Mel:I love the last part. Just your average, just your regular checklist. To be serious, I love the last part.
Robin:Just your average. I concur, just your regular checklist To be serious, Sure yeah, you know it's a question. I feel like it's something people deal with.
Alexis:It's a question of what's important, okay, and most of the failures people have are not important.
Robin:Okay.
Alexis:I mean it's important for the moment, it's important for your ego, which you know we have inflated ones, we're nodding. Oh yeah, that ego, yeah the older you get, the less your ego matters to you. Oh is that true?
Mel:Okay, I don't know I think it inflates more over time, but it gets more fantastical, like you're at the point where you're like I invented tinfoil, yeah, If you think about it a certain way, what do you mean?
Alexis:Like my planning on having a 28 inch waist again.
Mel:Yeah, yeah, I mean I'm sorry, that's about as good, yeah, exactly.
Alexis:And you know I could, but I'd be cut in half which you know, some assistants for magicians.
Robin:They love it it's a life for them.
Alexis:But we have friends who may be able to accommodate, I think the biggest thing is to deal with reality okay because question one is it failure? Yeah that's a good question. I mean, let's say that something happens and your project dies. Right, I don't care what the project is, yeah, and it's not a being of any sort, it's a situation you were doing and it's been something that's been stressing you out forever. Maybe it's not a bad thing that it died, that's true, that's died.
Robin:That's true. That's true. That's true. We oftentimes don't look at the relief.
Alexis:And you know, and if that's the case, maybe you have a better project that shows up. Now it sucks if it's your first thing you've ever done Right out of college. You get something to do and it craters.
Robin:That's true.
Alexis:That's about the worst thing I can think of First.
Robin:failures are hard.
Alexis:But just remember, you went to college and you graduated.
Robin:Right True.
Alexis:Right.
Robin:Some people never do that.
Alexis:Exactly Now. You know, or you know, it's your first job you've ever had and you're a plumber's assistant and you blow up somebody's pipes.
Robin:I mean some jobs have very big costs to them. Yes, yes, I mean some jobs have very big costs to them, yes, yes, and you know, and that gets to be a real problem. And oddly enough that's not that hard to do. I gather you know.
Mel:It's so easy to blow things up. Like I don't know why we need a whole book to describe how to do it. I mean, really, you could just stumble into it.
Alexis:Well, I mean, you know, part of my college degree is propulsion the only difference between propulsion and blowing things up is put a plug in it there you go.
Robin:Well, you were talking about Pete Buttigieg and that brings, you know, this example of him running for president and not winning. People are saying, well, he lost and you said well, did he? You know that's an example of? Is that failure? Is that not failure? You?
Alexis:know, I mean with Pete Buttigieg, number one. He's totally brilliant, I like him a lot. When the first time I talked to him, I started to talk to him about things and some transgender issues and things like that, and he had a pretty blank look on his face and I'm like you have no idea what I'm talking about, do you? And he paused for a minute and then he said look, I'm three years into this gay thing I am. I don't understand it. Fair.
Alexis:I have no idea about the rest of the thing. Now, I then made a stupid statement. I said well, would you like me to get you up to speed on the rest of the community? Ah see, and he said yes, and I'm like oh shit, I have like two weeks to put together the rest of the community Together.
Robin:Although you know.
Mel:Alexis, you know that she probably has like 50 presentations in the hard drive somewhere.
Alexis:It's finding the hard drive, that's the hard part?
Mel:No, no, I find the hard drive somewhere. It's finding the hard drive. That's the hard part. No, no, I find the hard drive.
Alexis:It's finding what's on it, because they're big drives.
Mel:That's true.
Alexis:But then standing right there because she butted in was Sheila Jackson Lee. Okay there you go. Oh, I want a copy too.
Robin:Uh-huh.
Alexis:And so you know, suddenly, away we go. Now, when it became obvious Buttigieg was not going to win and it did become obvious he was not going to win, and there's lots of reasons, none of them bad. Most of them have to do with the fact that this is the first time he's run for anything, so he might as well try, president. I mean, yeah, he did good as mayor and you know he called around at people that had been advisors of various sorts. I was one of the people that got called and he said, ok, so we're finally facing the facts. We probably aren't going to win. What do you think? And I'm like, drop out now as quick as you can. Biden is going to be in Indiana, your state. Go see him in Indiana, perfect timing. Tell him you're getting ready to drop out. Make the announcement there it's a big deal and see what kind of a deal you can make. He will probably give you anything you want.
Robin:Wonderful.
Alexis:And what he told Buttigieg was what cabinet position do you want?
Mel:Oh, there you go.
Alexis:And Buttigieg did not want Secretary of State. He said I don't know anything about being Secretary of State and I'm not competent Secretary of Defense.
Robin:He's like I was a medic. Yeah, big job.
Alexis:Now you know that's better than our current Secretary of Defense.
Robin:No. I thought, yeah Well, there's facts.
Alexis:But he was actually looking for something that you know made sense and he said you know, I want transportation.
Mel:Yeah, okay, that's not bad.
Alexis:Now you know his reasoning for that was really straightforward because everybody's like transportation that's not really glamorous or anything. He said well, every big bill that everyone's talking about is an infrastructure bill. That's transportation. That gives me all the money, except for what defense has. I'll have all of it to spend and I'm a city mayor, I know about towns.
Robin:Yes.
Alexis:And transportation goes from a town to a town.
Robin:Yes, and they know that they need to update their roads.
Alexis:And he said that's the part I know about and being able to fix that will be wonderful. And then, when he went for confirmation before the Senate, he went in, introduced his husband and two kids. Initially. That got rid of the whole. Well, are you gay?
Mel:Yeah here's my husband.
Alexis:It's like my husband and two kids.
Mel:My husband thinks so yes, Did I forget to say that Nobody even brought it up.
Alexis:The only thing they brought up was that, as soon as the confirmations were over, they wanted him to visit their state because they wanted to show him the infrastructure that they needed replaced.
Robin:Yeah, well, yeah, he was going to have the money. That's a big deal.
Alexis:And you know I mean at that point, once all of the senior senators started doing that, I'm like, oh, he's got it yeah.
Robin:So back to your answer. Is it actually failure?
Alexis:No, it's not.
Robin:And what relief did it bring you? Like he wasn't just fine, but he's still in the running if he wants to be.
Alexis:There's nothing that says oh no, you're, you know, kiss of death type stuff.
Robin:I don't see anywhere where people are slamming any insults towards him or his husband or his kids. I'm sure it exists, but for the most part he's going around from state to state, city to city and doing large negotiations for people. I mean, it's a big job.
Alexis:Well, and you know that's done now, of course, but he also, when you know he has had people you know, call him names and that sort of stuff. Frequently what he will do is say can we talk?
Robin:There you go.
Alexis:Because he's not afraid to have that discussion.
Robin:Yeah.
Alexis:And usually they've calmed down a lot, like he's the only person who voluntarily would go on Fox News.
Robin:That's true, he does go on there.
Alexis:That's hardcore. And he makes you know, no gosh, you can't do this or can't do that, none of that type stuff. He's like sure, but I get to talk too. That's his one thing, and he does, and he does very well, and he comes out, you know very well, and they don't attack him. They did a couple times and then after that they're like there's no point.
Mel:Yeah, if you don't, if you remain unflappable, you actually more unnerve the other person. I'll never forget this one Bill O'Reilly episode during 9-11, or after 9-11, where he had had, well, he had had this protester on who was a very young person and they weren't as well trained in like combating kind of media attacks and things like that. He wanted to characterize the anti-war movement in a very certain way. So he and he's not like he can speak and overpower you. So he's trained in that he knows how to do that. So a younger person, he's not very trained in the, you know, battle of language. Um, but this person did, uh, mention the name of a guy who was a veteran, who also lost his father on one of the planes. Okay, and so they said, well, he's a part of the movement too, because he was kind of like stringing them along, like, oh, no, american, who's a real American? Right would be against war? Right, certainly not a vet or anything. And so they mentioned that name and so he demanded to have that guy on.
Mel:Okay, well, that guy was far more adept at combating misinformation, all this other stuff, and he would. He remained calm, he addressed all the things. It was actually bill o'reilly who lost his cool and had them cut the guy's mic when he couldn't get him to react. Wow, you know, he just kept his cool, kept contradicting all these lies that Bill O'Reilly tried to throw at him. And so Bill O'Reilly was the one that started shouting and started being irrational and yelling to cut the guy's mic because it completely derailed his belief system. He thought a veteran cannot not support America going in to destroy a company that's offended us, right? A veteran can't not monger for war and can't not especially one who's lost a parent in it, can't not want this. And by seeing someone who didn't, he was like oh well, that whole worldview is gone. Now You've met the reality of what you said couldn't exist.
Robin:Some would say you lose the conversation when you lose your cool yeah.
Alexis:I mean, I end up talking to lots of people who are going to go do advocacy and those sorts of things and you know I always say, ok, the first thing is, don't get mad. You can act mad, but you can't be mad.
Robin:Right, there's a difference.
Alexis:And you know and make sure if you're acting mad that it has a real reason behind it. But you know, if you get mad you lose everything.
Mel:Yeah, right.
Alexis:And you know you watch it and every time someone does away you go and they're like well, but it just makes me mad. I and they're like well, but it just makes me mad. I'm like then don't do it, yeah, then you aren't a person that should go talk to this particular issue.
Mel:Yeah, it could actually make the situation worse, because you're just feeding into what they're assuming.
Alexis:Oh, absolutely, and you'll be a soundbite.
Mel:Yeah, yes, and it's not a good one.
Alexis:Not a good one, absolutely. And you know people who haven't done a lot of politics. They have a lot of trouble not getting mad.
Robin:Yes.
Alexis:And I think that that's one of the things that is interesting. They want to go out, they want to do this, they want to do that because they want to holler at people. I'm like don't holler.
Robin:Right. I have a friend who's a Native American and she said religion and politics are just an excuse to hate. I mean that's the way she looks at it. It gives people a free pass to go into people's lives and do that and I don't think all people, but I mean that's that's how she's seen it.
Alexis:That's how a lot of a lot of her community members. Well, if she's Native American, there certainly is cause for that.
Mel:Yeah, so there's some precedents there.
Robin:Absolutely so that. Yeah, there's some precedents there. Absolutely so, you know, I want to bring it back to being unflappable for the things that you love, mel, because what is it that you want the world to know about the things that you're creating?
Mel:um, just like be true to who you are. I mean, it's a terrible way to live your life when you are trying to hide who you are. It's like I've been there in points of my life. Uh, most of the time I can never successfully try and hide who I am like I have. I have masks, like everyone has.
Mel:Math you put on the work drag you're nice to be here yeah, when I did wedding videography, you'd be in catholic churches trying to pretend that you didn't all want to get out before three hours, you know, but it's like you would. Anything I did, whether I believed in it personally or not, I would find a way to connect myself to it. So I would be like, if I'm covering this person's wedding, I'm going to care about their life. I'm going to care about this moment in time, about them. If I have to edit their story, I'm going to find a way to make a connection Exactly. I may not come from this person's background, I may not understand why they want to do this thing they're doing or why they want to have like a 20 hour edit of their wedding, but I'm going to put every uh, uh, every bit of my soul into figuring out how can I connect to this, to give it an honorable presentation.
Robin:because I feel like if you're gonna do something, you better do it well and I think a lot of people know that about your work and how you show up and the the labor that you put into things. I mean you're a very physical person having to carry cameras around, having to go back and forth to set sound up, you know. I mean there's there's a lot of steps involved in all the things that you do when you're working, events and whatnot. So I just if people wanted to find what you're interested in, or support you or get interested in the things that you want, some, uh, viewership, if you will, in in behind your projects, projects like where could they find that? What? What would they see at this point in your um creating aspirations or inspirations I.
Mel:I've always wished I could say uh, I, and now I'm brought to you by the chub group and viewers like you, but uh, unfortunately I'm not sponsored right now, but maybe in future. But I'm terrible at social media too. I do have some pages on there that I probably express way too much on. Usually I just try to, you know, reshare science and everything else, but my main thing is, like you know, if I could leave one thing for the world, I think it would be like learn to love your mistakes and your ugly sides a little bit more, because your ugly sides need some love too.
Robin:Yeah, you know, that's beautiful.
Mel:Love the monster inside.
Robin:That's beautiful.
Mel:And you know, yeah, but we know you like monsters, I love monsters. I love monsters more than normality.
Robin:Alexis wanted to ask a question to each one of our podcast people that come for interviews. What was your question?
Alexis:I was hoping she forgot.
Robin:I think it's a perfect time.
Alexis:Yeah, and that is to you what's the meaning of life? Oh gosh.
Mel:Leave them traumatized.
Robin:I'll go with that there you go, the longer lasting impression. Let me tell you, there you go.
Alexis:Okay, so you know, when you pass through, you essentially want them to sit there shaking their head like I don't know what that was.
Mel:I know what that was, but I'll never forget it, and so I'm a little bit of your soul now so any fun things coming up that you're looking forward to oh, let's see, because we gotta throw in some fun that's true, I think you were saying we need to make advocacy and things like this fun again.
Robin:But oh yeah, you know like what's fun in general for you in 2025, like this getting together with friends and community, creating stuff.
Mel:it's like, please, don't let whatever's happening in your life or in the world right now stop you from being engaged and being out there and doing things you love, because you only ever have today. Nothing else is promised to you. So it's like everything you do every day, whether you go sit down, read a book that you really want to read or go watch an old horror movie at night. While you're at it, you know, just do it. You know, do it now, enjoy it. You know, tune the manicness of the world out, because the world's always manic, it will always be manic, so that's just consistent but yeah, wonderful yeah, thanks for having me yeah, thank you for coming
Robin:you know, and maybe we'll have you back, like as things come up, as topics come up. We want to. We want to talk about a few different things, maybe behind the paint wall, but maybe, maybe in front of the paint wall. We'll see.
Mel:I really want to know more of Alexis's history because that's a whole nother series.
Robin:That's going to be, threads through the podcast and things.
Alexis:Oh, heck, yeah. And the other thing is that it's really funny. Maria Gonzalez, who's a good friend of mine, we have lunch most Sundays with Jack Falinski, who's Jack Love him, and things come up just about every Sunday that I just make a comment and Maria's like wait a minute, how did I not know that? Yeah, and I'm like, because it just came up, just came up, have you ever?
Mel:that time I was with the cousin Astra and you're like rewind a minute we're going to talk about the things in Mexico that will be in Spanish tune in el noche thank you for coming and thank you for the laughs and to everyone listening.
Robin:Thanks for having us in your ears and we hope you're working through your failures with creativity and community and taking care.
Mel:Good night, wherever you are.
Alexis:How am I going to top that with saying goodnight.
Robin:You can bottom that with saying goodnight. Oh, I could just whisper it. There you go.
Alexis:ASMR, finish with ASMR, but you know, the night basically likes whispering. Yes.
