1 00:00:31,590 --> 00:00:40,410 Kevin Bae: So I need some I need some new traditions everything I 2 00:00:40,440 --> 00:00:49,470 all the traditions that I had oh shit for the last 30 plus years, 3 00:00:50,730 --> 00:00:58,110 I think 35 years. See, I got married when I was when I was 19 4 00:01:01,530 --> 00:01:10,230 and I started a family when I was 20. And so, you know, I, I 5 00:01:10,230 --> 00:01:17,910 really couldn't remember. But back then even in my 20s what my 6 00:01:17,910 --> 00:01:25,350 family traditions were. Now I'm not a religious person. So, you 7 00:01:25,350 --> 00:01:30,930 know, there were no nothing, there were no traditions based 8 00:01:30,960 --> 00:01:35,970 on religion. Now, that's not to say we didn't celebrate 9 00:01:35,970 --> 00:01:39,210 Christmas and stuff like that, but it was just it was a secular 10 00:01:39,420 --> 00:01:40,320 celebration 11 00:01:46,560 --> 00:01:52,470 and Easter, we did celebrate Easter, but not really not. 12 00:01:52,920 --> 00:01:57,960 Again, it was very secular. I remember coloring eggs. But I 13 00:01:57,960 --> 00:02:01,020 don't remember much beyond that. Halloween with Halloween coming 14 00:02:01,020 --> 00:02:05,460 up this year. You know, I don't remember dressing up in costume 15 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:11,460 either. And going out trick or treating. The only thing I know 16 00:02:11,460 --> 00:02:14,580 that I did have a costume be only because of some pictures. 17 00:02:14,640 --> 00:02:17,970 But the only pictures I have of me in a costume was in 18 00:02:17,970 --> 00:02:24,000 kindergarten when I dressed up as underdog which was a favorite 19 00:02:24,030 --> 00:02:28,800 character of mine. back then. I have the entire underdog cartoon 20 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:35,190 collection by the way. Just in case you were wondering. But I 21 00:02:35,190 --> 00:02:40,770 couldn't remember. My family traditions even Thanksgiving or 22 00:02:40,770 --> 00:02:46,860 Christmas morning. See I had pictures when I was a kid of 23 00:02:46,860 --> 00:02:53,700 Christmas morning. But I don't actually remember them. I don't 24 00:02:53,700 --> 00:02:58,470 remember getting up early in the morning and opening up gifts. I 25 00:02:58,470 --> 00:03:03,510 don't know what we did for Christmas Eve. You know 26 00:03:03,510 --> 00:03:09,960 Thanksgiving I know we had Thanksgiving dinner. But I don't 27 00:03:09,960 --> 00:03:15,990 remember anything other than the cranberry sauce if they can. And 28 00:03:15,990 --> 00:03:23,340 we got the gel kind not the not the one that's like the that 29 00:03:23,370 --> 00:03:25,980 that you can actually see cranberries in. We got the one 30 00:03:25,980 --> 00:03:28,440 that when you squish it out of the can that you know you slice 31 00:03:28,440 --> 00:03:37,740 it up into in the circles. I loved it. But I don't I don't 32 00:03:37,740 --> 00:03:40,830 remember I know we had Turkey. I know we had it. But I don't 33 00:03:40,830 --> 00:03:50,610 remember it. So when I started my family maybe the background 34 00:03:50,640 --> 00:03:53,910 maybe maybe all my stuff is blocked out is blacked out of my 35 00:03:53,910 --> 00:03:59,460 memory. Say my parents got separated. They separated when I 36 00:03:59,460 --> 00:04:04,350 was like four years old. And I think I think their formal 37 00:04:04,350 --> 00:04:12,690 divorce happened when I was like 11 That's, that's I don't 38 00:04:12,690 --> 00:04:16,500 remember exactly. But I think that's the timeline. So my 39 00:04:16,500 --> 00:04:22,890 father was not in the house regularly, and we would go we 40 00:04:22,890 --> 00:04:29,100 would spend the weekends with my father in various places and do 41 00:04:29,100 --> 00:04:31,410 various things. You know, I think we also switched off 42 00:04:31,410 --> 00:04:34,830 holidays sometimes I think we did Thanksgiving with one parent 43 00:04:34,830 --> 00:04:37,800 and then Christmas with the other parent I don't I I really 44 00:04:37,800 --> 00:04:44,070 don't remember it. But anyway, when I started my own family, 45 00:04:44,850 --> 00:04:48,480 you know, I'm like, Okay, I'm gonna start some traditions, get 46 00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:54,060 some traditions going and make them solid. So we did that, you 47 00:04:54,060 --> 00:05:00,660 know, we had a very traditional Thanksgiving dinner. You know, 48 00:05:00,660 --> 00:05:04,740 my traditions were traditional, nothing crazy, nothing out of 49 00:05:04,740 --> 00:05:08,940 the box is things that I wanted to cement in my children's 50 00:05:08,940 --> 00:05:13,830 brains. And so they could have some good solid memories of what 51 00:05:13,980 --> 00:05:19,170 they used to do, because I couldn't remember. So yeah, we 52 00:05:19,170 --> 00:05:22,200 had Thanksgiving and where I cooked the meal, you know, 53 00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:26,640 Thanksgiving, the Thanksgiving meal as a traditional meal, with 54 00:05:26,640 --> 00:05:29,670 turkey and mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes, blah, blah, 55 00:05:29,670 --> 00:05:33,660 blah. That's, you know, one of my favorite meals, I love the 56 00:05:33,660 --> 00:05:42,390 combo of coma carbs. With a roasted turkey. And homemade 57 00:05:42,390 --> 00:05:45,780 cranberry sauce I made, I switched off, I think after the 58 00:05:46,860 --> 00:05:49,920 maybe two or three years of getting cranberry sauce out of 59 00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:54,480 the cam like I did when I was a kid and started making it myself 60 00:05:54,480 --> 00:05:58,440 because I figured out that they were so stupid easy that there's 61 00:05:58,440 --> 00:06:01,080 no reason to get it out if I can, unless you're like in some 62 00:06:01,080 --> 00:06:08,250 dire emergency. We had all excuse me, all the trimmings. 63 00:06:10,980 --> 00:06:14,610 And, you know, I took me all day to cook the meal. And then later 64 00:06:14,610 --> 00:06:20,310 on, you know, my son also liked to cook. So he would help me, 65 00:06:21,180 --> 00:06:23,160 you know, with some of the dishes with some of the recipes. 66 00:06:23,340 --> 00:06:26,730 And it became a tradition where we would cook the meal all day 67 00:06:26,730 --> 00:06:29,520 long. And we would goof around and talk and bla bla bla while 68 00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:33,240 we cook. While my daughter would complain that the food isn't 69 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:38,580 ready yet. And it was nice, it was just the four of us. We 70 00:06:38,580 --> 00:06:41,520 didn't like, you know, we rarely went to anybody else's house. 71 00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:44,310 And we rarely had people over it was really just the four of us. 72 00:06:48,900 --> 00:06:50,010 And Christmas, 73 00:06:51,270 --> 00:06:57,720 Christmas, we had a tradition where on Christmas Eve, because 74 00:06:57,720 --> 00:07:00,780 my mother moved out to Salt Lake City, so she did not live in the 75 00:07:00,780 --> 00:07:06,600 Chicago area. And my father, though, still remained in the 76 00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:09,030 Chicago suburbs where you know, like 10 minutes from where I 77 00:07:09,030 --> 00:07:13,830 live. So our Christmas Eve tradition would be that we would 78 00:07:13,830 --> 00:07:18,690 go to my father's house. And they would have sort of a very 79 00:07:18,870 --> 00:07:27,390 hybrid Korean American Christmas thing. It was a hybrid because 80 00:07:27,900 --> 00:07:32,190 all the older women would all be in one room, talking to each 81 00:07:32,190 --> 00:07:37,170 other, preparing some food. All the men would be in their own 82 00:07:37,170 --> 00:07:40,890 separate room, chatting it up. And then after dinner, they'd be 83 00:07:40,890 --> 00:07:46,620 playing cards. And all the younger generation. Me My older 84 00:07:46,620 --> 00:07:51,420 brother, we were the oldest out of everybody, because we're from 85 00:07:51,420 --> 00:07:56,460 my father first marriage. And the the younger children started 86 00:07:56,460 --> 00:07:59,490 out with my younger brother, which is 12 years younger than 87 00:07:59,490 --> 00:08:06,150 me. And everybody else, all of his cousins from my stepmothers 88 00:08:06,780 --> 00:08:11,100 family, all of them underneath. They were all younger. So you 89 00:08:11,100 --> 00:08:15,000 know, usually a year or two down the line there was let me see 90 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:22,530 123 I don't know four or five, four or five cousins. And some 91 00:08:22,590 --> 00:08:27,750 some side. Family members knows cousins of cousins, and then 92 00:08:28,020 --> 00:08:30,210 some of their family friends blah, blah, blah. So it was very 93 00:08:30,210 --> 00:08:33,090 cool. Everybody was Korean. Except for me and my older 94 00:08:33,090 --> 00:08:37,050 brother. And my wife and my kids. We were the, my wife is 95 00:08:37,050 --> 00:08:41,220 Filipino. And my kids of course are mixed breed. Like me, I'm 96 00:08:41,220 --> 00:08:47,220 half Korean only. So we would go to my father's house on 97 00:08:47,220 --> 00:08:50,460 Christmas Eve, and they'd have their little tradition of food. 98 00:08:50,460 --> 00:08:53,580 And so but it was kind of fun, especially when my kids were 99 00:08:53,580 --> 00:08:57,570 really small. You know, they got to enjoy running around with 100 00:08:58,110 --> 00:09:02,160 other people. There were no kids their age because again, I was 101 00:09:02,160 --> 00:09:05,790 the first one to have children and but they were a novelty for 102 00:09:05,790 --> 00:09:10,380 everybody because they were the youngest kids in the room. And 103 00:09:10,380 --> 00:09:16,320 then, you know, Christmas morning you know, we would open 104 00:09:16,320 --> 00:09:20,010 up presence and when they were really small, you know, I didn't 105 00:09:20,850 --> 00:09:26,490 there are only a few presents under the tree. And you know, 106 00:09:26,490 --> 00:09:29,940 everything was already wrapped, obviously, but we put a few 107 00:09:29,940 --> 00:09:33,780 presents into the tree that were from me and my wife. And then 108 00:09:34,170 --> 00:09:37,530 you know, so they would see that. There are no you know, 109 00:09:37,530 --> 00:09:39,570 they would see that they're from us and we would tell them that. 110 00:09:40,440 --> 00:09:43,560 And then Christmas Eve after my kids went to sleep, we would 111 00:09:43,560 --> 00:09:45,900 bring out the other gifts that were hidden, you know, in the 112 00:09:45,900 --> 00:09:49,290 house. And I would stuffed their stockings were a little tiny 113 00:09:49,290 --> 00:09:52,350 thing. So that way, you know put up the whole Santa Claus facade, 114 00:09:52,680 --> 00:09:55,950 which was a lot of fun. Yeah, so when they got up in the morning 115 00:09:55,950 --> 00:09:58,860 and they see the tree is just filled underneath with presence 116 00:09:58,860 --> 00:10:01,260 and their stockings were stuffed With a bunch of little, little 117 00:10:01,260 --> 00:10:04,200 tiny things that they could open, and it was a fun thing. 118 00:10:05,370 --> 00:10:08,370 You know, keep up the facade like Santa Claus really did come 119 00:10:08,370 --> 00:10:10,170 overnight while you were sleeping. And my son was the one 120 00:10:10,170 --> 00:10:13,590 that was Mr. Super excited all the time to get up. He would get 121 00:10:13,590 --> 00:10:18,270 up at like 5am. And you'd hear him rustling about you know, and 122 00:10:18,270 --> 00:10:21,360 waking up my daughter. And she was the kind that was more 123 00:10:21,360 --> 00:10:27,030 patient telling them just to relax and wait. We do we get up 124 00:10:27,030 --> 00:10:30,030 because I get up at 6am I've been getting up at 6am forever. 125 00:10:32,670 --> 00:10:35,610 So you know, we would do that it was. And that was a lot of fun. 126 00:10:35,610 --> 00:10:39,300 So we spent the morning opening up gifts. And then I spent the 127 00:10:39,300 --> 00:10:41,820 afternoon putting things together like, you know, most 128 00:10:41,820 --> 00:10:48,120 dads do on Christmas morning, or Christmas Day. And, you know, 129 00:10:48,570 --> 00:10:53,910 that was a nice, solid tradition. And I'm pretty sure 130 00:10:53,910 --> 00:10:59,250 my kids remembered all Easter, on the other hand was not that 131 00:10:59,250 --> 00:11:02,640 was still not much of a tradition. But you know, because 132 00:11:02,640 --> 00:11:06,420 I didn't I never cared much for Easter for some reason. Because 133 00:11:06,420 --> 00:11:10,650 it's all about bunnies and hard boiled eggs and Easter egg 134 00:11:10,650 --> 00:11:13,290 hunts. I don't know, I just I was never ended. I just never 135 00:11:13,290 --> 00:11:19,800 cared. But my wife would make up Easter baskets for them. And 136 00:11:19,800 --> 00:11:22,410 then they remember that that was I guess sort of fun for them. We 137 00:11:22,410 --> 00:11:26,430 did color eggs. that not a lot though. But I guess because I'm 138 00:11:26,430 --> 00:11:33,600 just not into it. Oh, it's Christmas, I forgot we had a 139 00:11:33,600 --> 00:11:36,600 tradition of decorating the tree obviously after after 140 00:11:36,600 --> 00:11:39,870 Thanksgiving, the day after my son and I would go out and get a 141 00:11:39,870 --> 00:11:45,060 tree. And I grew up with an artificial tree, a plastic one 142 00:11:45,060 --> 00:11:50,550 that you would put together. And, you know, it was fine. 143 00:11:50,549 --> 00:11:55,649 I even I took it with me from my house when I moved out. And I 144 00:11:55,649 --> 00:11:59,579 used that for a couple of years. But then, after a while I was 145 00:11:59,579 --> 00:12:01,769 like you know what I'd like to get a real tree. You know, that 146 00:12:01,769 --> 00:12:05,639 was like starting my own thing too. I never had a real tree 147 00:12:05,639 --> 00:12:07,679 didn't know what to do with it, didn't know how to care for it. 148 00:12:07,679 --> 00:12:10,139 But I was like, let's get a real tree. So I started that too. So 149 00:12:10,139 --> 00:12:14,549 every year since then, if I if I'm home for for Christmas, you 150 00:12:14,549 --> 00:12:16,919 know we get a real tree and we go out the day after 151 00:12:16,919 --> 00:12:20,399 Thanksgiving and go get that we didn't cut one down, we would 152 00:12:20,399 --> 00:12:24,329 just go to a tree lot and stuff but still it was cool. And we 153 00:12:24,329 --> 00:12:28,049 would spend the next day after we get that tree you know the 154 00:12:28,049 --> 00:12:30,839 whole family would be decorating it we had specific ornaments we 155 00:12:30,839 --> 00:12:34,379 even got every year to we would get a different ornament for the 156 00:12:34,379 --> 00:12:39,059 kid or to represent some new thing that happened in the kids 157 00:12:39,059 --> 00:12:45,209 lives. So I've got a whole box of these things for the 158 00:12:45,209 --> 00:12:52,229 Christmas tree so I talked about Easter, Halloween, my wife, you 159 00:12:52,229 --> 00:12:53,999 know, we go out trick or treating every year and that was 160 00:12:53,999 --> 00:12:59,099 a lot of fun. You know, I was not too into Halloween anyway, 161 00:12:59,099 --> 00:13:01,649 but we would do it. You know, Mike, my wife would make 162 00:13:01,649 --> 00:13:05,729 different costumes for the kids handmade. Not all the time but 163 00:13:05,729 --> 00:13:11,279 most of the time and we would go around our neighborhood you know 164 00:13:11,279 --> 00:13:15,059 and go trick or treating and then that kind of fell off to 165 00:13:15,059 --> 00:13:22,499 the side. For some reason kids stopped trick or treating. I 166 00:13:22,499 --> 00:13:29,969 don't know if it was after 911 or what but I just remembered it 167 00:13:29,969 --> 00:13:35,789 just not that many people were out there but you know as your 168 00:13:35,789 --> 00:13:38,909 kids get older they you know 1112 13 years old they still 169 00:13:38,909 --> 00:13:42,299 dress up I guess for school and stuff but it wasn't so much the 170 00:13:42,299 --> 00:13:45,749 little kid thing that you know that it should be 171 00:13:51,840 --> 00:13:58,140 but the the other traditions I guess, you know I was born in 172 00:13:58,140 --> 00:14:05,970 Chicago in the city in the Logan Square neighborhood. And I grew 173 00:14:05,970 --> 00:14:10,440 up at a time you know in the air I was born in 66 So really 174 00:14:10,440 --> 00:14:16,800 coming of age was the mid 70s through the mid 80s. And back 175 00:14:16,800 --> 00:14:21,150 then Chicago was still very much Chicago. It isn't what it is 176 00:14:21,150 --> 00:14:25,590 today. There was literally a hot dog joint almost on every corner 177 00:14:25,620 --> 00:14:31,650 on every block. You know our block we had a hot dog was not a 178 00:14:31,650 --> 00:14:34,140 hotdog stand but it's a hot dog restaurant. Let's put it that 179 00:14:34,140 --> 00:14:36,360 way they had booths and everything. They were called 180 00:14:36,360 --> 00:14:41,370 Nico's and that is now defunct at the corner of Elston Western 181 00:14:41,370 --> 00:14:43,290 in diversity on Chicago's north side 182 00:14:49,080 --> 00:14:54,210 it's now some other restaurant I don't know. But you know the 183 00:14:54,210 --> 00:15:01,200 food food was a tradition. Growing up You know, because 184 00:15:01,200 --> 00:15:03,420 there's a hotdog stand in every corner you grew up eating 185 00:15:03,540 --> 00:15:09,240 Chicago style hot dog, a Maxwell Street Style polish. They would 186 00:15:09,240 --> 00:15:14,190 even have heroes, you know, the Greek heroes that everybody eats 187 00:15:14,190 --> 00:15:22,800 and a pita. And tamales, corn, corn tamales. And you could get 188 00:15:22,800 --> 00:15:28,440 that virtually at almost any hotdog stand in the city. Some 189 00:15:28,440 --> 00:15:33,630 just specialize in burgers and hotdogs and stuff. But it was 190 00:15:33,630 --> 00:15:36,360 kind of like a, I don't know a thing that most of the places I 191 00:15:36,360 --> 00:15:42,900 went to head at least I'm on my my side of town. And then, you 192 00:15:42,900 --> 00:15:47,190 know, for pizza, that traditional pizza in Chicago is 193 00:15:47,190 --> 00:15:53,730 a tavern style thin crust pizza that is cut in squares. And you 194 00:15:53,730 --> 00:15:57,810 could get that also anywhere, any any tavern corner tavern. 195 00:15:59,040 --> 00:16:02,550 You know, our favorite one was father and son pizza. And I 196 00:16:02,550 --> 00:16:05,550 don't think that exists anymore. But they had a location near our 197 00:16:05,550 --> 00:16:10,320 house. And we would order that for delivery a lot of times. And 198 00:16:10,320 --> 00:16:13,170 of course, there's deep dish, deep dish pizza, which people 199 00:16:13,170 --> 00:16:19,170 like to make fun of and the rest of the country but and I don't 200 00:16:19,170 --> 00:16:22,170 know what people do nowadays what you know, because Chicago's 201 00:16:22,170 --> 00:16:24,630 not the same as it was and I think it's become sort of a 202 00:16:24,630 --> 00:16:29,160 novelty, where it's like, okay, you got to do this, you got to 203 00:16:29,160 --> 00:16:33,600 eat this, but we did. And you know, we didn't go to any chain. 204 00:16:35,910 --> 00:16:40,020 pizza places, especially at the time Luma Laddies. Right now is 205 00:16:40,020 --> 00:16:45,180 the big the big shot in the city, at least to me it is. But 206 00:16:45,180 --> 00:16:47,670 there were all there are all kinds of independent little 207 00:16:47,670 --> 00:16:51,420 places and we went to a little restaurant up on Elston Avenue 208 00:16:51,510 --> 00:16:55,020 northwest of my house. And I can't remember the cross street 209 00:16:55,020 --> 00:16:59,190 anymore, but it was called Casa Luna. And it was just like a 210 00:16:59,190 --> 00:17:01,980 little Italian restaurant. And you'd go in there and they had 211 00:17:01,980 --> 00:17:05,130 some fantastic deep dish pizza that we would order that 212 00:17:05,130 --> 00:17:10,770 delivery to let's before obviously, any of these delivery 213 00:17:10,770 --> 00:17:13,830 services they had so the actual restaurant would hire a delivery 214 00:17:13,830 --> 00:17:15,330 driver to to deliver to you 215 00:17:20,760 --> 00:17:26,190 and we did that for you know forever. And even you know after 216 00:17:26,190 --> 00:17:29,970 I got married and moved out to the suburbs, you know, we kept 217 00:17:29,970 --> 00:17:34,110 up the the pizza traditions, the hot dog traditions. It used to 218 00:17:34,110 --> 00:17:37,470 be a hot dog joint called flew keys, which was a small chain, 219 00:17:37,470 --> 00:17:42,720 which is now also defunct. They had a location up in Northbrook 220 00:17:42,720 --> 00:17:44,250 that we would go to all the time 221 00:17:53,040 --> 00:17:58,950 but I raised two kids this way in these Chicago type traditions 222 00:17:59,010 --> 00:18:01,980 and our own family, personal family traditions that we 223 00:18:01,980 --> 00:18:09,360 created ourselves. And my kids grew up, went to college, you 224 00:18:09,360 --> 00:18:12,540 know, and because I got married so early, I became an empty 225 00:18:12,540 --> 00:18:27,720 nester around the age of let me think here I'm 40. To 41. Can't 226 00:18:27,720 --> 00:18:32,370 remember when my son 41 I don't know I can't remember his 227 00:18:32,370 --> 00:18:38,640 freshman year at college. But when he went to college for 228 00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:42,390 freshman year, my wife and I officially became empty nesters. 229 00:18:42,810 --> 00:18:47,850 So I've been an empty nester for over a decade. And I didn't have 230 00:18:47,850 --> 00:18:50,190 any problem transitioning to that. That wasn't a big deal. 231 00:18:50,250 --> 00:18:53,610 You know, the kids still came home for a call for for holidays 232 00:18:53,640 --> 00:18:59,430 from college. You know, and then when my daughter finished, she 233 00:18:59,430 --> 00:19:04,140 went off to New York City. When my son finished college, he, you 234 00:19:04,140 --> 00:19:07,620 know, moved, moved around a little bit and ended up in 235 00:19:07,620 --> 00:19:14,010 Boston where he went to school. And so, you know, the trips home 236 00:19:14,010 --> 00:19:17,580 for them were a little bit less frequent. They'd still come 237 00:19:17,580 --> 00:19:20,640 though, and we would have you know, try to recreate the 238 00:19:20,640 --> 00:19:24,870 traditional Christmas or the traditional Thanksgiving meal. 239 00:19:26,610 --> 00:19:29,220 And obviously, it wasn't the same as when they were little 240 00:19:29,220 --> 00:19:33,240 but it was okay. You know, it was kind of like it's almost 241 00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:43,140 like comfort food. But we fast forward from there. And two 242 00:19:43,140 --> 00:19:51,690 years ago, and 2019 22 years 2019 almost two and a half 243 00:19:51,690 --> 00:20:01,470 years. I decided to quit my job with my family and I didn't 244 00:20:01,470 --> 00:20:07,680 really plan on retiring per se. But I think that's what ended up 245 00:20:07,680 --> 00:20:16,380 happening, you know, I saved up some money, pardon my paper. And 246 00:20:16,410 --> 00:20:19,680 it just, you know, became time for me to quit, that's for sure. 247 00:20:20,310 --> 00:20:26,490 So I made that decision. And we quit. You know, my wife and I 248 00:20:26,490 --> 00:20:29,670 both worked for my family. And the two of us just said, time, 249 00:20:29,700 --> 00:20:32,850 it's, it's time, you know, I work for my family non stop for 250 00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:37,290 over 30 years. And it was basically a 24 hour job 251 00:20:42,660 --> 00:20:46,830 with a lot, a lot of responsibility, more, more than 252 00:20:46,830 --> 00:20:56,460 I wanted to take on at 53 or 53 was 53 time, maybe it was 52 and 253 00:20:56,460 --> 00:21:03,360 I quit the house 52 house 52. And when I quit, I, it's tough 254 00:21:03,360 --> 00:21:07,140 for me to remember because 20 is 2019. But I was born in November 255 00:21:07,140 --> 00:21:10,230 and 66. So 52 256 00:21:22,740 --> 00:21:27,810 You know, so then I just started doing what I felt like doing 257 00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:32,430 little things, you know, similar to what I'm doing now, except 258 00:21:32,430 --> 00:21:41,310 now I started podcasting because I feel like it and it was going 259 00:21:41,310 --> 00:21:44,700 along, okay, you know, my wife and I were doing some traveling, 260 00:21:44,730 --> 00:21:51,810 you know, starting in 2016 I decided to go with her, you 261 00:21:51,810 --> 00:21:54,210 know, she likes to go to Europe, she likes to go to Italy and 262 00:21:54,210 --> 00:21:58,050 France. So I'm like, okay, you know, I really never cared much 263 00:21:58,080 --> 00:22:02,160 to travel or travel to Europe even but I'm like, if she wants 264 00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:04,590 to go and she wants me to go whether what you know, what do I 265 00:22:04,590 --> 00:22:07,920 care, it's no skin off my nose, I can enjoy just fine, you know. 266 00:22:08,940 --> 00:22:11,490 So we started doing that, you know, once a year 267 00:22:18,210 --> 00:22:27,630 and then you know, in the house that we lived in, in suburbs of 268 00:22:27,630 --> 00:22:32,130 Chicago, it started become really expensive. You know, and 269 00:22:32,130 --> 00:22:35,340 again, I stopped working so I don't have the normal income 270 00:22:35,370 --> 00:22:40,650 coming in. You know, I just have income from money that I've 271 00:22:40,650 --> 00:22:47,910 saved and invested to, to live off of. And some, you know, 272 00:22:47,910 --> 00:22:51,000 little money that I make on the side doing little odd things. So 273 00:22:51,960 --> 00:22:58,110 I like to say I'm semi retired. So I'm like, You know what, 274 00:22:58,110 --> 00:23:01,980 there's nothing tying us here anymore. There's no reason to 275 00:23:01,980 --> 00:23:04,890 stay in Chicago, you know, the property taxes are very high. 276 00:23:05,190 --> 00:23:10,950 The cost of living is high. You know, what am I getting for it 277 00:23:11,010 --> 00:23:15,210 anymore? You know, I'm not getting anything for it. There's 278 00:23:15,210 --> 00:23:19,500 no longer an advantage because my kids are gone. And my 279 00:23:19,500 --> 00:23:22,890 daughter has has children. So I have grandchildren but you know, 280 00:23:22,890 --> 00:23:28,650 they're not anywhere near us. They're moving about. So I'm not 281 00:23:28,650 --> 00:23:31,620 living there, my kids and that living there, my grandkids and I 282 00:23:31,620 --> 00:23:34,500 don't work for the family anymore. So there's not really 283 00:23:34,530 --> 00:23:38,640 anything tying me down to Chicago other than me being from 284 00:23:38,640 --> 00:23:43,140 Chicago. And, you know, being having deep roots there to where 285 00:23:43,140 --> 00:23:47,160 I grew up to where I've lived my whole life. So I started looking 286 00:23:47,340 --> 00:23:51,180 for alternatives, where can we go and I started looking for 287 00:23:51,180 --> 00:23:59,610 places to live. And in July of are in June, actually June of 288 00:23:59,610 --> 00:24:02,970 2020, during the pandemic because that kind of pushed me 289 00:24:02,970 --> 00:24:07,590 over the edge. You know, looking at our finances, and I'm looking 290 00:24:07,620 --> 00:24:12,510 at what's happening with Illinois in general politically. 291 00:24:14,580 --> 00:24:17,550 It was not good and the lockdowns that were happening 292 00:24:17,550 --> 00:24:21,090 and I was not happy the people in Illinois and around Chicago 293 00:24:21,090 --> 00:24:25,290 are just becoming insufferable with this COVID lockdown and 294 00:24:25,290 --> 00:24:31,590 masking and mask shaming and pushing shit on everybody. And I 295 00:24:31,590 --> 00:24:38,550 was not happy. Yeah. I'm very much a just live and let live 296 00:24:38,730 --> 00:24:42,000 kind of person. You could do whatever the hell you want. You 297 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:45,210 know, just leave me alone. But people weren't leaving me alone. 298 00:24:45,780 --> 00:24:48,900 And the government especially was not going to leave me alone 299 00:24:48,900 --> 00:24:53,220 with these lockdowns. I couldn't even go into a store. Because 300 00:24:53,340 --> 00:24:56,400 I'm not a masking person because I believe they're full of shit 301 00:24:56,400 --> 00:25:02,010 with that shit. You know, when they first when they first 302 00:25:02,010 --> 00:25:07,170 started the masking in Illinois, and I couldn't get in the 303 00:25:07,170 --> 00:25:11,130 grocery store without a mask on, I stopped going, why? You know, 304 00:25:11,130 --> 00:25:13,530 we didn't live that far from those kinds of borders about a 305 00:25:13,530 --> 00:25:17,220 40 minute drive. I drove up the fucking Wisconsin, I went to the 306 00:25:17,220 --> 00:25:20,850 grocery stores there. I didn't care I went to Costco up there. 307 00:25:21,870 --> 00:25:24,780 Because at the time Costco wasn't it wasn't instituting a 308 00:25:24,780 --> 00:25:33,120 massive mandate up in Wisconsin. So I'm like, This is This is 309 00:25:33,120 --> 00:25:39,210 fucked. If we started talking about moving, so that way, we 310 00:25:39,210 --> 00:25:42,870 could save some money and then we could do some traveling. And 311 00:25:42,870 --> 00:25:45,690 like, well, if if we're thinking about making this move, we're 312 00:25:45,690 --> 00:25:51,330 gonna do this move. Now is the time. You know, before things 313 00:25:51,330 --> 00:25:54,690 get too crazy with the lockdowns and all this kind of bologna. 314 00:25:58,140 --> 00:26:03,630 And things get more expensive. You know, I don't, I couldn't, 315 00:26:03,660 --> 00:26:07,020 you know, you it's impossible to read the future. But I just had 316 00:26:07,020 --> 00:26:10,110 a feeling it was time to get out. So we started researching 317 00:26:10,110 --> 00:26:14,100 places. And we ended up actually researching places in the 318 00:26:14,100 --> 00:26:17,670 Atlanta, Georgia area, because they have a major airport. I was 319 00:26:17,700 --> 00:26:20,910 originally looking in North Carolina, but then air airlines 320 00:26:20,910 --> 00:26:25,020 started pulling back a lot of their flights from smaller 321 00:26:25,020 --> 00:26:28,860 airports. So I'm like, Oh, I don't want to go there. Because 322 00:26:28,860 --> 00:26:32,040 then if, if for some reason we need to catch a flight to go 323 00:26:32,040 --> 00:26:35,130 someplace. Atlanta would be better because you know, it's 324 00:26:35,130 --> 00:26:43,320 Delta's headquarters. And we'll be able to fly just about any 325 00:26:43,350 --> 00:26:52,230 anywhere in the world. fairly easily if we need to. So we 326 00:26:52,230 --> 00:26:57,870 started looking there. And we found a house found house in. In 327 00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:05,490 late June. We closed on a house in late July. And we started 328 00:27:05,490 --> 00:27:16,140 moving and I I moved here about a year and a month ago now. So 329 00:27:16,140 --> 00:27:18,030 I've been here in Georgia. 330 00:27:21,300 --> 00:27:24,570 And it's not bad, it's nice. Our house is nice. We've got a you 331 00:27:24,570 --> 00:27:28,080 know, bigger house with a bigger lab for less money, lower taxes. 332 00:27:29,220 --> 00:27:31,680 All those things are good cost of living here is much better 333 00:27:31,680 --> 00:27:35,040 than it is up and up in the Chicago area. The people have 334 00:27:35,040 --> 00:27:38,490 all been very nice. It's been it's been fantastic. But what I 335 00:27:38,490 --> 00:27:43,170 find is that because I'm so entrenched in the Chicago area, 336 00:27:44,070 --> 00:27:47,340 is that I need some new traditions. I don't have any 337 00:27:47,340 --> 00:27:52,230 here. I feel like I'm just living here, which I guess is 338 00:27:52,230 --> 00:27:57,000 fine, too. But do I need new traditions? I don't know. It 339 00:27:57,000 --> 00:27:59,520 just feels like you know, you need something to cement 340 00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:03,240 yourself to the place that you live in. But I'm not exactly 341 00:28:03,240 --> 00:28:06,930 sure what to do yet. And I thought our tradition would be 342 00:28:06,930 --> 00:28:09,390 you know, that we would travel you know, once maybe twice a 343 00:28:09,390 --> 00:28:14,160 year, you know, during certain seasons during certain times of 344 00:28:14,160 --> 00:28:17,880 the year. But that that's that's kind of out the window at least 345 00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:21,240 for now. We're trying to plan something for 2022 But I don't 346 00:28:21,240 --> 00:28:23,820 know if that's going to happen with all these vaccine mandates 347 00:28:23,820 --> 00:28:27,180 and travel restrictions, it's you know, it's become a bit of a 348 00:28:27,180 --> 00:28:30,750 hassle to even try to plan it. You know, and and I don't want 349 00:28:30,750 --> 00:28:38,010 to go outside the US and then have some surge of cases 350 00:28:38,010 --> 00:28:40,830 someplace and then suddenly, I'm locked down somewhere and I 351 00:28:40,830 --> 00:28:45,360 can't get back. So those things are uncertain. And so we have 352 00:28:45,360 --> 00:28:48,360 our reservations made, and I'm just gonna leave them sit there 353 00:28:48,360 --> 00:28:52,650 for now. We won't cancel just yet. Yeah, I'm hoping some 354 00:28:52,650 --> 00:28:56,010 miracle happens. And people come to their senses and they get rid 355 00:28:56,010 --> 00:28:58,860 of all this crap and we can go back to some sort of normal, 356 00:28:59,160 --> 00:29:03,210 it'll never go back to normal normal what we used to live at, 357 00:29:03,960 --> 00:29:09,000 much like things never got back to normal after 911 but I'm 358 00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:12,510 hoping something happens where I don't have to worry about 359 00:29:12,510 --> 00:29:18,000 getting locked down in some foreign country. And I thought 360 00:29:18,000 --> 00:29:22,890 that was going to be our tradition. But I don't know now. 361 00:29:23,760 --> 00:29:28,890 So we're just kind of going along you know, I don't have any 362 00:29:28,890 --> 00:29:32,640 food traditions here. Now I can get a Chicago style pizza 363 00:29:32,640 --> 00:29:36,060 there's a pizza chain here that is the same pizza chain that's 364 00:29:36,060 --> 00:29:39,180 up in Chicago and they make an identical tavern style pizza 365 00:29:39,180 --> 00:29:39,840 which is great. 366 00:29:45,150 --> 00:29:48,750 There is no deep dish here to speak of and hotdogs are not a 367 00:29:48,750 --> 00:29:51,360 thing here. I mean, they have hotdog stands here but they're 368 00:29:51,360 --> 00:29:57,180 not the same. So food was tradition. I'm still trying to 369 00:29:57,180 --> 00:30:02,880 figure that stuff out. But family tradition. I think that 370 00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:06,720 stuff's all out the window. I don't know if that's ever going 371 00:30:06,720 --> 00:30:08,520 to happen again, I think everything is just going to be 372 00:30:08,520 --> 00:30:10,590 like comfort food, where you're just going to go back to it 373 00:30:10,590 --> 00:30:13,350 every once in a while, you know, when you go visit your kids, or 374 00:30:13,350 --> 00:30:19,080 they come visit you is this a transition for people getting 375 00:30:19,080 --> 00:30:27,840 older, I'll be 55 this year. 55, I've got two grandchildren, but 376 00:30:27,870 --> 00:30:30,240 they're all you know, everybody's all over the place. 377 00:30:32,730 --> 00:30:35,130 And it's just me, me and my wife. We don't have any family 378 00:30:35,130 --> 00:30:40,830 down here. My wife has a friend that from her school in the 379 00:30:40,830 --> 00:30:44,040 Philippines. And she's made a bunch of friends here, but I'm 380 00:30:44,040 --> 00:30:48,180 not. I'm not an outgoing person. I'm introverted. I have one 381 00:30:48,690 --> 00:30:51,210 colleague here former business colleague that lives here and 382 00:30:51,210 --> 00:30:55,890 I've seen him a couple of times over the last year when fishing 383 00:30:55,890 --> 00:31:02,040 once but mostly I'm kind of a hermit and a loner. You know, 384 00:31:02,040 --> 00:31:08,640 I'll go hiking with my dog. I put around the house, I do 385 00:31:08,640 --> 00:31:11,820 gardening, I cook I do all these all these other little things. 386 00:31:11,820 --> 00:31:15,330 And I'm, you know, I blog about shit that pisses me off, and 387 00:31:15,360 --> 00:31:19,560 I'll podcast like this, ah, you know, I changed up the podcast 388 00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:24,240 to from covering the news of the day, which, you know, mean, it's 389 00:31:24,240 --> 00:31:26,430 already out there, and I don't, I don't really care what's out 390 00:31:26,430 --> 00:31:33,030 there to more like this style, where you know, I get some idea 391 00:31:33,060 --> 00:31:35,940 or bug in my brain that I feel I need to just get out. And I'll 392 00:31:35,940 --> 00:31:36,720 just do that. 393 00:31:42,240 --> 00:31:45,810 But, you know, everything seems just a little hollow without 394 00:31:46,350 --> 00:31:51,240 traditions. And maybe it's just something I got to get used to, 395 00:31:51,240 --> 00:31:55,230 because I've only been out when you live your entire life in one 396 00:31:55,230 --> 00:32:00,360 area, you get to know it so well and you get so comfortable. So 397 00:32:00,360 --> 00:32:04,860 then when you move someplace new, it's like almost like 398 00:32:04,860 --> 00:32:11,430 starting all over again. With everything you know, and I'm 399 00:32:11,430 --> 00:32:14,250 getting used to it the people here are great. People are nice. 400 00:32:15,060 --> 00:32:17,280 haven't had any any problems there 401 00:32:23,550 --> 00:32:27,300 but I don't know I just wonder if you know this is just the 402 00:32:27,300 --> 00:32:32,190 thing about getting older you feel a little empty for the 403 00:32:32,190 --> 00:32:33,630 things that you used to do 404 00:32:39,570 --> 00:32:42,060 who knows who knows what's going to happen? I don't know. This 405 00:32:42,060 --> 00:32:44,070 just came to me today. I'm like, You know what, we just don't 406 00:32:44,070 --> 00:32:48,540 have any any tradition is a stick anymore. So we got to make 407 00:32:48,540 --> 00:32:50,970 something new but I don't want it to be forced either. It's got 408 00:32:50,970 --> 00:32:53,160 to be something that just kind of happens organically and it's 409 00:32:53,160 --> 00:32:59,250 not gonna revolve around holidays because you know, those 410 00:32:59,250 --> 00:33:05,880 have specific meaning meanings and feelings associated with it. 411 00:33:06,990 --> 00:33:12,000 Because it's what you do with your kids. So I don't know. 412 00:33:12,090 --> 00:33:15,000 We'll see what happens. That's all I got.