Speaker 1: 0:02

Welcome to the Saints that Serve podcast where, each week, your hosts dive into the crossroads of faith, culture and the unknown. Christ is Lord and the kingdom is now. We are the Saints that Serve. Welcome everybody to the Saints that Serve. Podcast with your host, jairus, and with us is John John. John John's not here, but with us instead is somebody who's been mentioned on the podcast so many times, probably every single episode. It is my wife, ashley.

Speaker 2: 1:03

Hello.

Speaker 1: 1:05

What was up with that awkward?

Speaker 2: 1:06

pause, I don't know. Dramatic effect I don't know.

Speaker 1: 1:09

It was very dramatic.

Speaker 2: 1:10

No, actually what happened was I thought you were going to say my last name because it just felt so formal, but then I realized you weren't.

Speaker 1: 1:16

Yeah, we don't do last names on this podcast but, fun fact for all those who are listening, the last name of Ashley is my last name of Ashley is my last name.

Speaker 2: 1:25

That is so crazy.

Speaker 1: 1:27

It's because we're married.

Speaker 2: 1:28

I'm sure they didn't expect that. But you know, here we are.

Speaker 1: 1:31

That's right, but hey, this is episode 22 of the Saints that Serve podcast. It is also the first episode that is filmed not filmed recorded in a different location. It is being recorded in Ashley and I's kitchen.

Speaker 2: 1:52

Our kitchen slash family room because we have one of those open concept type houses, so it's kind of a combo kitchen, dining and living room.

Speaker 1: 2:00

So in front of me is Ashley, behind me is the refrigerator.

Speaker 2: 2:09

And to the left is a TV. That's the gist of it. That's it.

Speaker 1: 2:13

Some of y'all are probably sitting there scratching your head Where's John? And why is the podcast in a different location? It's because we fired him.

Speaker 2: 2:20

Yeah, I mean he obviously had to go, especially that last episode.

Speaker 1: 2:24

The writing was with them, all know yeah, terrible writing on that episode, but no, seriously, uh, john's sick, he is very sick. I called him yesterday to make plans for the episode and he's like I can't, I can't do the podcast, you're gonna going to have to figure something out, paraphrasing there. So I said, well, what's the day that this episode is coming out? And though it is being recorded a few days before it's coming out, on the 10th, which is, in fact, the week of Valentine's Day Day. So, everybody, welcome to the 2025 Valentine's Day episode. And the way we're doing that is it's just me and my wife talking to one another for an hour. Yeah, that's the theme. That's pretty much it. Before then, john usually does the announcements. He always has that prepared. So this week, the announcements are John's sick, so be praying for that man.

Speaker 2: 3:29

Absolutely, and a slew of other people. I think almost everyone at my job that I've had a call with this week has been sick. Their kids are sick. They're working from home and also I've heard from a lot of people that it's long sicknesses, like a week. They'll be out for a week because their kids are sick.

Speaker 1: 3:46

So there you go. So if you hear in a couple of weeks that it's just a John-only episode, it's because I got sick and then, coincidentally, because we're married, probably spread it to Ashley. So, yeah, no announcements. But because there's no announcements, we can quickly get into the topic of the week. Tyler, this is your transition. What's the topic of the week? I brought it to you and I'm like you know, be a guest on the podcast. You said yes. I said what do you want to talk about? And you're like I want to talk about the hit Fox sitcom from 2000, and what was it? I think it's 2004. 2004, house, yay. So we're going to talk about a slew of different things, but really we're going to talk about House, because what was it like? A month ago, we decided to start watching House again in 2025.

Speaker 2: 4:41

Yeah, and we're already on season one, episode 18.

Speaker 1: 4:44

Yeah, I forgot how already on season one, episode 18. So, yeah, I forgot how good the show is. It is such a good show, Just the way that these characters are written. Like what was it? It's dating this or timing this? It's 930 at night. We were planning on start recording around like eight o'clock and before that we were eating dinner, watching House and it's like let's watch one more.

Speaker 2: 5:09

Yeah, that's what she said. But I was okay with it because it was a really good episode before and, like you were talking about like the beginning of the season, it was kind of just an introduction of all the characters you know that work with House and his three staff, and then cuddy and his friend dr wilson and all their shenanigans. But now it's kind of gotten to a point where there's a main storyline and I was talking to you several times of like when's the main storyline?

Speaker 1: 5:34

like it felt like just like a monster of the week type situation and if you don't know what that is, it's just like the same cast of characters dealing with like a different problem. And I was saying where, where's the overall story? Because it's a monster of the week and it's a monster of the week up until like episode 14 of the first season yeah and then we start getting overall arching stories, really like almost to the point of like. There is like inconsistencies and just like lack of like.

Speaker 2: 6:09

They spent a very long time developing these characters and then we finally get our overarching what I guess is weird to say, a villain in the show yeah, I think it's more like an opposing force, uh, just someone who doesn't go along with dr house, but because before then we had dr cuddy who, um, basically, is like that, she's the admin, like runs the hospital and whatnot, and she was an opposing force, but she wasn't a villain, right, but this man is an opposing force and a villain, and every time we see him do something, me and you both are just like ew yeah what was?

Speaker 1: 6:44

What was his name? Fogel.

Speaker 2: 6:46

Yeah, it was Vogel, I think. Yeah, with a.

Speaker 1: 6:48

V, just to be clear, not the subway guy.

Speaker 2: 6:52

Oh yeah, this predate Jared.

Speaker 1: 6:54

No.

Speaker 2: 6:54

Jared was like a 90s thing. Oh yeah, so this is after Jared. Yeah, I don't know Well, probably after the start of Jared, but before the fall of Jared, yeah, I don't know Well probably after the start of Jared, but before the fall of Jared.

Speaker 1: 7:07

So we're not going to get into that story.

Speaker 2: 7:10

Funny enough, I watched a documentary on that. Did I tell you about that?

Speaker 1: 7:12

Yeah, I was in the room with you. Oh yeah, okay, watched it together.

Speaker 2: 7:17

I can remember sometimes I'd get home an hour before you from work if I actually started that with you, because I also watched. What was the other guy that I watched one of those famous, uh, serial killers jeffrey dahmer um ed boone.

Speaker 1: 7:30

No, not ed boone uh brunette who is it? The guy who was the clown? No, not john wingacy, because I watched one for them too uh, just for y'all listening, at home, my wife will watch the weirdest things, like you know, the memes of like how, like women will say, like you know, I don't want to go outside, I'm scared or whatever, but then then they'll be out like watching the weirdest serial killer stuff I think that just might be me that's just you.

Speaker 1: 7:57

Yeah, she'll be like I'm scared to be in the house by myself. And then I'll come home and she'll be watching you know, jeffrey Dahmer documentaries and it's just like no wonder you're afraid to be alone in the house by yourself no, that just reminded me it was on Netflix.

Speaker 2: 8:12

Yeah, so it was a bad version of a docu-series. To me it was just one movie with uh, what is his name? The guy from High School Musical oh Zac Efron. Zac Efron played the main character and.

Speaker 1: 8:24

I know what you're talking about.

Speaker 2: 8:26

I'm trying to pull it up right now. Let's see, gotta go to my netflix history. So, oh, it was called extremely wicked and shockingly evil and it was about I want to start playing the background like it is actually gonna play oh ted bundy. Okay, oh ted oh my god. Ted Bundy Good old.

Speaker 1: 8:44

Theodore, that's right. Ted of Mithy, ted Mithy, yeah.

Speaker 2: 8:50

But yeah, I guess we're well going on a different topic.

Speaker 1: 8:52

It's fine, it's what the show does.

Speaker 2: 8:56

But yeah, no, but back to the whole house thing. So you're watching house and then, of course, how you know, how you're on your phone and you get those weird topical based like shorts and stuff. And one of the ones I saw was this lady, beth McCall. She said he has just a blue checkmark, so you know. But she posted I'm rewatching House and this show is bananas. They just let this man limp around doing medical crimes all day, every day, including Christmas, and that just made me laugh. We were laughing about that, but that really is just the show. It's intriguing because Dr House in every episode I think he says all the time that everybody lies and that's one of the big themes throughout it. You know, when they're analyzing their patients, trying to figure out what is actually wrong with them, they almost always misdiagnose them. The first couple times you know something goes wrong. Then the patient crashes. But a lot of times it's due to the fact that people don't tell the full truth about their medical history or their personal history.

Speaker 1: 9:47

The episode we just watched was like a politician and it was like I don't lie, I don't lie, but you're a politician, but you don't lie, you don't lie. And it went to the extreme that, like you know, he ended up needing to be on a breathing machine because of, like, his sickness, and house goes in there and rips it off of him and enforces him to tell the truth, while this man is gasping for air like I can't breathe, I can't breathe.

Speaker 2: 10:16

Well, tell the truth and then I'll give you back your air yeah, it's very interesting, like you know, the whole part about the man is committing medical crimes but yeah, like you know, depriving someone of oxygen so they'll tell the truth, so you can actually save their life. So definitely like House being kind of an anti-hero type character.

Speaker 1: 10:31

Is House the Deadpool of medical shows?

Speaker 2: 10:34

He might be, except for he doesn't break the fourth wall, you know.

Speaker 1: 10:37

He does break those laws, though he does break those laws, those fourth laws.

Speaker 2: 10:41

Those fourth laws. One of the other things that really stands out to me we were talking about is like even going back to the early 2000s, the character development is really good. But they also touch on a lot of topics in the last 18 or so faith, you know infidelity, you know people having to make the choice between saving the baby or you know saving a spouse because of, you know, maybe giving them an organ they need. Second last episode was around like a child who was suffering from obesity and just it's just interesting to watch and see how times have changed just in a matter of like 20 years.

Speaker 1: 11:20

Because there were were like remarks and things being like said and I made the like that woman who uh with the uber or lyft or whatever, yeah who, like you know, said hey, you know, I'm being discriminated against because of my weight and it's like no lady, I have to decline the ride because you can't get in my car yeah, her name is dink the I think it's dink dam.

Speaker 2: 12:03

She's a rapper and it's interesting because she actually was on one of those rap shows where they discover you and she actually got kicked off of the show because or they asked her to go home because they thought it was better for her to work on her health first, even though she had talent. So it's just interesting that, like, while she a Lyft driver, I think you know unfortunately lost his job for denying her ride Previously that she actually was on a tv show where she was basically told the same thing that her weight was going to prohibit her from being able to start her rap career. So it definitely wasn't the first time.

Speaker 1: 12:31

She's probably had someone tell her, you know, hey, well things that, like her weight, kept her from doing the things that she wanted to do with her life but then, just in the contrast, like we're obviously in the tv show, one of the doctors, his uh, what's his name?

Speaker 2: 12:45

dr chase. He's actually very against people who are overweight. He doesn't like it, he doesn't think it's attractive. He's very vocal about that and kind of has a bias against the. The is a 10 year old girl who had a heart attack. Uh, dude, just, you know some special illnesses they discovered later on it's always seems so like, even though it's medical.

Speaker 1: 13:02

In that show, everything that they end up finding almost feels mystical or like fantasy to a degree. Do you know what I mean?

Speaker 2: 13:11

Yeah, it does, and I'm sure that it's. You know, they always talk about it being like, oh, there's like a 1% chance that this could be a diagnosis, but I guess what's interesting is that they actually are very practical and direct about things. Like you know, they're not shy about asking people about intimate things about themselves to. So yeah, I mean I think that was one of the most interesting thing about the show is that obviously, topics that were probably still hot topics like, you know, the obesity epidemic or which probably was just starting, you know, in the early 2000s versus you know how that's analyzed today, where some people don't even argue that obesity is really illness, is more of a slur, you know.

Speaker 1: 13:49

I will say this too you kind of touched on. You know it does not feel like a 20-year-old show.

Speaker 2: 13:55

It really doesn't, yeah, and I always feel like it's handling modern day topics better than we're currently able to have those conversations today. It's just a grounded reality that we really don't have that full of a grasp on anymore, like such as terms like what is obesity? You know, just stuff like that.

Speaker 1: 14:12

You know they touched on the last episode we watched, the political guy oh you have AIDS, mm-hmm. Which? When's the last time you heard about somebody having AIDS? What was it? Magic Johnson, yeah, might have been the last big push for AIDS.

Speaker 2: 14:28

I think actually it was Charlie Sheen, because he ended up yeah, I'm sure there's tons of people.

Speaker 2: 14:32

But you know, fortunately, like I guess because of the lifestyle of Charlie Sheen, I think him being on Two and a Half Men and him, I think someone was blackmailing him about it and he ended up coming out. But but, yeah, you know, you hear about it like in random spurts, but the only other time I ever see that conversation around that is, you know, couples who are undetectable, right, so you have to take the medication every day, but it's almost like they're spitting it, like this isn't a big deal. Just, you know, take your medication every day. It's all lighthearted and stuff, but whereas, like, yeah, the Dr House in the episode he basically he's the guy being gay and the man pushes back. I mean it says that he's only know been with women and that's being the truth. But at the time, like, like to the point, the show is always pushing people's boundaries and trying to get them to admit the lives, because often, you know, everybody lies or so dr house believes.

Speaker 1: 15:21

So there's something interesting too. I've kind of experiences, like they always have the opening scene where we see the patient and then you know whatever illness afflicts them in that moment. You know the catalyst point for this person to need to be in the hospital and they always seem like normal people and then all of a sudden they don't feel like people, they feel like test subjects in every episode, because house is always I don't know the answer. So let's run 37 different tests and it's risking their life, right? Yeah, okay, if we do this they might live. If we do this they might live, but they also might die. Run them both, run both tests and if they lived we cured them. If they're dead, then we knew we were wrong. Like it's like every single episode.

Speaker 2: 16:14

It's just like and I think that's a a point to like how he doesn't view the patients as people as much as puzzles right, yeah, normally he depicts cases where they're almost impossible, like a 10 year old girl having a heart attack, which is, like you know, never happens right, or what was that one with the homeless woman? Yeah, homeless woman she was she ended up having rabies yeah, she ended up having rabies, but it was.

Speaker 2: 16:39

She had, like I think she also had like a tumor, like they thought they fixed it, they thought she had cancer or something and it was. You know, obviously I think they first saw, first it was another episode where they introduced like bias you know, one of the things, dr foreman, things assume she's just making it up to get drugs and it turns out when she actually was had overdosed on her insulin medication, I think, so that she would have been in the hospital so she would have a nice place to stay that was warm and you know, I think it was cold outside, and so that was like what got her there. And so his bias in that case was right, even though it was a wrong thing morally, you know, or to accuse somebody of you know, lying just go to hospital. But yeah, it was one of those complicated stories where she it was so many different things that they thought she had and then she ended up being one of the only people that we've seen so far that actually passed away that they couldn't, you know, quote unquote.

Speaker 1: 17:23

Well, they solved it. And then, by the time they solved it, it was too late.

Speaker 2: 17:27

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 17:28

Do you want to talk about how, at least in my opinion, even though they present from the point of view of a Christian, present different viewpoints, with characters being atheist and it doesn't feel offensive as well.

Speaker 2: 17:44

Yeah, I was going to touch on that. So there's several. So, like Dr House, he's an atheist. There's a Dr Cameron the only female on his staff she's also an atheist. Dr Chase is an atheist but his backstory was that he was a Christian and actually was going to I think he was a Catholic, he was going to seminary or something like and then he ended up not being able to maintain his faith and he deconverted.

Speaker 2: 18:06

And I believe Dr Foreman may be Christian but probably doesn't practice Christianity. He's shown in the show, you know, in the show, kind of you know living a you know non quote unquote like devout Christian lifestyle, although some people obviously will say that you know sin and fall short, but it doesn't seem that he's actually quote unquote practicing his faith. But he may believe that God exists. But yeah, it's interesting that they broach certain topics where they, you know, either make fun of people, sometimes casually, for having a faith, but there's also been times where certain characters have actually encouraged you know someone's faith and especially in their dying moments, or, you know, kind of been sympathetic. But it doesn't seem offensive so much as that they present.

Speaker 1: 18:44

It feels more, yeah, more realistic than more than anything. And they're not really trying to make fun of Christianity, they're just showing different angles on what would be real life, on a fake medical show, which is funny because, I point out, all the time, at least in the first season, when you look through a window you can clearly see the flat image that they're trying to show. Like, oh, we're in a real hospital, but they're really on a soundstage in a studio and like behind them is like the fake, you know everything, the outside world. That's not real. The other thing, if we're going on the production side of things, that first episode looks so bad visually, like for some reason they decided to tint everybody orange.

Speaker 2: 19:31

Yeah, yeah, that was like the only episode that they what do they call that the first?

Speaker 1: 19:35

episode is called the pilot episode.

Speaker 2: 19:37

Yeah, I do remember you commenting on that, but then it was immediately fixed like the next episode, so I think they figured it out.

Speaker 1: 19:42

One of the other things. I think this is just more of just talking about it. It's so weird because what I remember is the theme song and it's completely different for the first season. But it's also weird because I keep remembering from when I watched this, when I was younger, and like, oh, I know what's going to happen at the end. This one like, and just for several times, jogging my memory. But I don't remember the opening song. Every time I hear it I'm like this doesn't sound like the house theme song to me honestly to me, I guess it does.

Speaker 2: 20:11

I don't really remember a different version of you know, right now, um, but I did have something I want to say back to the conversation. Like the conversation we're having around, like the, how they talk about God, specifically like the you know, christian God or however they perceive that being atheist. But there was one interesting conversation that Dr House had with Dr Cameron and she asked Dr House, why do people, people pray to God? And she said you know, they pray to God because they want God to basically know how grateful they are for the things he does. But then House said no, that's not true. You know, people actually pray to God because they don't want him to crush them, and basically that it was out of fear. And you know, so it's like yeah, it's like almost. In a way, it's like well, I don't know, you know both sides kind of aren't necessarily correct.

Speaker 1: 20:56

I don't think it's really either or I mean, obviously, there's times in the Bible where people are praying for God to deliver them out of hand of some type of calamity, or like you know. The problem with that, though, is how sin is insinuating that they would be crushed I think you said crushed like ants insinuating that God would be the one crushing them.

Speaker 1: 21:13

And then it's weird because he then puts himself into God's position. It's like don't worry, I'm not going to crush you. And it's just like, by the way, just a quick little spoiler on God, God will not crush you.

Speaker 2: 21:28

Well, I mean it's funny because we've been reading Genesis and Exodus for our weekly devotion.

Speaker 1: 21:34

Let me rephrase that he will not crush his people.

Speaker 2: 21:37

Okay. So this is the thing interesting thing to talk about, because we were just reading and this is what I was talking about, I think Exodus, chapter 32. I don't know if you got through that one where people, basically this is around the time that Moses went up on the mount and he was talking to God. God wrote the Ten Commandments on the tablets, but Moses commandments on the tablets, but Moses is up there too long, according to the people you know, and they asked Aaron to actually make them a God you know like to worship. So Aaron asks, you know, he says everyone, give him all your gold, right, and they melt the gold and out the fire, at least it says, out comes a golden calf. So the people started worshiping the golden calf, right, and so while Moses is up, you know, still on the mountain with God, god says, you know, basically, tells Moses, hey, while you've been gone, the people have made a golden calf and they started worshiping you know, go down on the mountain, you know. Basically, talk, you know, deal with this situation.

Speaker 1: 22:22

And I love it too. They're just like we don't know how this happened.

Speaker 2: 22:29

Well, aaron's been like well you know they told mob is asking you for to make them a god. I see the peer pressure, but anyways, like after, when the situation is being resolved, basically I think. But if moses tell them and to, basically I think they were like grab your sword and go against your brothers and your, you know, your sons or basically anyone who basically was worshiping the god, and basically strike them down. I think it says like there's 3 000 people that were killed that day. Let me see if I can find that. And then it says also I'll find another verse, but in Exodus, chapter 32, verse 35, it says then the Lord sent a plague on the people because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made.

Speaker 2: 23:06

But before that when it says you know, yeah, so I'm going to read verse 26. It says then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said who is on the Lord's side? Come to me. Yeah, so I'm going to read verse 26. It says and the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses and that day about 3,000 men of the people fell. So you know, obviously, like sin is what will get you separated from God, whether it's, you know.

Speaker 1: 23:41

But to my point, those people were not praying to God. Right, they were praying at a golden cow.

Speaker 2: 23:47

Yeah, they were praying to a golden calf, but it's like.

Speaker 1: 23:50

If you are following God, he is not going to crush you.

Speaker 2: 23:56

Yeah, that's definitely true.

Speaker 2: 23:56

I think it's more of like kind of you know Dr House did get that wrong in the sense of, like you're a Christian, you believe in God and you believe Jesus died for your sins and that you know you're saved by faith and you know if you're doing what you're supposed to do, the best way that a simple people can I think, yeah, you shouldn't be living in terror every second.

Speaker 2: 24:14

Can I think, yeah, you shouldn't be living in terror every second. But also, sometimes we're in a culture where I feel like people don't talk about sin, the way to sin being death and how it can separate you from god, and how there's still consequences. So you kind of get the, I feel like a lot of times in church you either get like the god is so forgiving and so loving and you know it focused on like you know nothing separate from the love of god, which is true. At the same time, you also have the god who you know just will not be in the love of God, which is true. At the same time, you also have the God who you know just will not be in the presence of sin, and you know there are consequences.

Speaker 1: 24:40

You're going straight to hell.

Speaker 2: 24:43

Yeah, I mean it's like you can't be too foreign either camp, I guess because there's a balance.

Speaker 1: 24:47

You're right. There are churches that go both extremes and they are aspects of Christianity, but personally I also more lean towards the. God is a loving God. You shouldn't be scared to get saved. You should get saved to know Jesus and live for him. To live for God and not for. I got saved because I was afraid to go to hell.

Speaker 2: 25:14

Yeah, you know, sorry that made me think of it. I agree with you. Sometimes. There's another random topic, I guess the Bible. You know this verse that 1 Corinthians 7, verse 9, that says, you know, it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

Speaker 2: 25:27

Paul wrote the letter to the Corinthians, right? So it is kind of like pointing to the idea of you know, people make decisions because that's honestly, I mean, that's the only solution, like the solution is to get away from sin. Like you know, it's better to marry than to burn with passion. So someone would say, well, you should never marry somebody just for the sake of like, not, you know committing, you know fornication or adultery or something. Someone who's like you should marry for love, or you should marry because you know that's the right person.

Speaker 2: 25:51

But if you are literally ensnared by fornication, say, like you get someone pregnant right, or something like that, then the reason that you might do that is out of like, okay, fear of condemnation, fear of you know, you know I mean fear of that.

Speaker 2: 26:03

You know your sin is going to lead to something bad. I mean, I'm not saying that's what you should do, but I think, like sometimes there actually are instances where unfortunately that kind of is where sin leads us to you, you know, because otherwise you wouldn't be in that type of situation where, like, either you know you marry somebody or you know you're out here, you know, burning with passion or whatever that may lead to. Yeah, you know, because you know. Obviously the concept is like, if you remain unmarried and serve the Lord, great Right. Or you know, if you want to be married and you're going to serve the Lord, great. But for people who I think you know, I guess, if you haven't figured it out and you're out here burning in lust and whatever, maybe the solution for you is that or something you know, but I guess it's not always, I guess, so clear cut, you know, like between the two.

Speaker 1: 26:46

Another episode I think you want to talk about right is the religious nuns episode.

Speaker 2: 26:56

Yeah, that was. Yeah, I wrote that one down episode. Yeah, that was I. Yeah, I wrote that one down. I think that was really early on season one, episode five, which was ironically called damned, if you do, and it basically was about a nun who had had a past where by the way, real quick everybody.

Speaker 1: 27:06

This is the pg-13 episode of the saints that serve podcast well, Well, I think anyways.

Speaker 2: 27:14

But, yeah, there's a nun. She had a life, I don't know. She pretended that she was always a nun, I think, at first, but then it found out she actually had lived a life. I think she got pregnant, had made mistakes but eventually devoted her life to being a nun and was in touch with her faith. And then that's when we learned that Dr Chase, who was one of the male doctors who worked with Dr House, he used to be Catholic, he used to be going to, like, I think, a seminary or his college studies and then he ended up deconverting after a time.

Speaker 2: 27:45

But there was a time, I think, when a nun was struggling, like she was getting sick and you know she was losing faith. She didn't know if God was the one who was actually causing her to be sick. It was like a test from God and it was actually Dr Chase who read his favorite scripture I wish I had wrote it down, but like his favorite scripture in the Bible and that kind of encouraged the nun and she kind of made a statement, like you know. She said God's waiting for you Whenever you want to come back. You know you can. So it was very interesting episode where, yeah, once again it's like you know someone who doesn't have faith, who's an atheist, talking to someone who's a Christian, and they kind of have a dialogue around. You know God and what kept them having faith and versus what kept them from having faith in God.

Speaker 1: 28:26

I'm seeing if I can find the Bible verse 1, peter 1, verse 7.

Speaker 2: 28:32

1 Peter 1, verse 7. It says so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Speaker 1: 28:46

Yeah, in the middle of that episode she is starting to question her faith, and then Chase comes in and helps her to remember why she is a nun in the first place yeah, it's just, it's interesting, like you know, to see like the warmth, like an atheist kind of having some compassion for someone of religion.

Speaker 2: 29:06

It's just something you just don't really see as much in these tv shows these days.

Speaker 1: 29:10

You just have like the mocking, like the you know they treat all sides of the story with, whether you disagree with them or not. They treat them with somewhat respect.

Speaker 2: 29:21

When telling these stories in an old show like this versus, like you said, nowadays it would just be mocking non-stop of religion yeah, and I also think a lot nowadays, whenever people are, you know, being christians, or the way that they show a devout Christian is either somebody who's a complete cultist. They're like either like someone who's, like you know, in the corner quoting scripture staring at a wall, or just you know it's always like it's somebody who's violent, who's crazy.

Speaker 1: 29:51

It's all deemed to be. You know fairy tales and it's. It's just, it is.

Speaker 2: 29:57

It's done with respect yeah even though your main characters are atheists yeah, and I would say they're not even like dr house, isn't even necessarily kind to anyone. He, yeah, he's not really. I think he. I think the word that, uh, that was a dr cameron called him. Was it misanthropic? Let me look that up. I think I actually. Yeah, she called him.

Speaker 2: 30:17

One of his doctors who worked with him called him a misanthrope, which is a person who has general hatred, distrust or dislike of other people. I think that really is characteristic of Dr House, who is obviously probably a genius, very talented, can solve problems in a way that no one else can, but he has a general disregard for people to the point where he doesn't even want to meet his patients. He only meets the patients that he really needs to meet them. You know, doesn't really have a good bedside manner, but even someone like him can in this show, show compassion or have conversations without it being complete disdain, which is just. I feel like it's so rare and just see nuanced perspective, especially in such a polarized time right now that we're in in society, wolf feels like everybody is characterizing the opposite aisle as like complete lunatics and you know, with its politics, religion, you know, it's just very extreme, you know.

Speaker 1: 31:07

Do you have anything else to say about House?

Speaker 2: 31:10

No, I think I actually touched on, I think, everything I had yeah.

Speaker 2: 31:15

Well, I guess there's one other thing, one last thing I'd say, and it was in episode 17 called House Rules.

Speaker 2: 31:20

This is where episode where there's a black presidential candidate and you know we talked about him a little bit before, but he was sick and you know, but one of the things that stuck out to me, that Dr House said you know, they don't call it a white house for no reason, basically saying that because the guy was a black candidate, he wasn't going to win the election. And later in the episode, the black president of kent kennedy I forget his name, so I'm sorry, but um, he basically said you know, you're right, I know I'm not going to win, but just because I'm not going to win doesn't mean I I wouldn't basically not make any progress, it doesn't mean that it's not benefit for me trying to run the race, you know. And so, because he seemed like he may not win the battle or the war, but he may make, you know, make room for someone else later on he essentially said just because I'm gonna lose does not mean I should stop fighting right, you know.

Speaker 2: 32:02

So it's just yeah, and it's nice like you have little things like that where they challenge like the main character to grow and this house, you know, if you know, he's kind of his way of the highway and he kind of has a very linear way of thinking about things and sometimes, when it comes to his like grounded beliefs, yeah, I think that because he takes these patients and treats them as puzzles, like in the beginning of the show, he almost never went and talked to the patients.

Speaker 1: 32:25

Yeah, but these people who he doesn't see as people do sometimes make him act more humane to people.

Speaker 2: 32:35

Yeah, and the other point of that was just that to see someone just call someone black, they're like, hey, you have no chance. It's just so interesting. Once again, looking back to early 2004, when President Obama I feel like it was like really Obama would have been 2008.

Speaker 2: 32:48

2008,. That's what I thought yeah so, just like right before then being like, yeah, you have no chance, but yeah so, just like right before then being like, yeah, you have no chance, but then you know. So it's just interesting. And nowadays I feel like if someone air to air episode where they said a black man couldn't be president, it would be just a PSA about race and it would go in some whole thing. But at the time it was just he was saying, hey, it's highly unlikely, you know. And so yeah, just stuff like that, just different, take on.

Speaker 2: 33:15

Just so that people will understand and not come jumping at the podcast. What is the color of your skin?

Speaker 1: 33:18

oh, my goodness I mean I hope that's so weird to know. I know I said it that way, I'm black.

Speaker 2: 33:22

I'm a black person.

Speaker 1: 33:23

I'm brown, I have brown skin, but I am a black person just so y'all know, my wife is brown, so she can talk about these things see, that's what I'm saying, like nowadays it's so weird.

Speaker 2: 33:33

Yeah, I know you're joking, but that's. But that's kind of where saying, like nowadays it's so weird. Yeah, I know you're joking, but that's kind of where we are right now.

Speaker 1: 33:35

So it's interesting, yeah, like how dare you speak on something like that that you don't know what you're talking about or you're involved in? She knows what she's talking about.

Speaker 2: 33:45

Well, I know a little bit about being black, you know.

Speaker 1: 33:57

Just a At least five years of your life, maybe more, maybe more, yeah. So because this is the Valentine's Day episode, I wanted to read a Bible verse myself. This is also the one that was read at our wedding and also probably read at a majority of all weddings. But you know, it's 1 Corinthians, chapter 13, verse 4 through 8. Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud, it does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails, but where there are prophecies, they will cease.

Speaker 2: 34:48

What version of the Bible is that?

Speaker 1: 34:50

I'm not sure. Hold on the NIV, niv niv.

Speaker 2: 34:53

Yeah, because I was reading the english standard version before I was gonna mention, I was like well, but now that we read two different translations or I meant to say translation, not version, but um- yeah, essentially god is love that's bible verse two god is love, and that's what love is.

Speaker 1: 35:10

I know that we sit here and we're like you know Valentine's day is about more fleshly, earthly love, but keep in mind that God loves you and you should accept God.

Speaker 2: 35:23

Yeah, yeah, that first, john, four, eight and I don't know what. I just Googled this to figure it out. But uh, it's, whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Speaker 1: 35:34

So yeah, Wow, I know right, that actually worked. I was really worried the soundboard our soundboard has not been working very well on the sound effect side of things.

Speaker 2: 35:51

So you know, but I think this might be another segment. I'm not sure you have prepared, but just around what? Even is Valentine's Day, because I can't really even like I don't think I've ever heard this story.

Speaker 1: 36:04

Oh, actually, oh, so I just so do you want to tell us move on into the next segment, Tyler, this is your transition. Do you want to tell us what Valentine's Day is?

Speaker 2: 36:19

Yeah, so Valentine's Day according to timeanddatecom, because that was the first link that I saw that wasn't Wikipedia.

Speaker 1: 36:23

No, we should get from Wikipedia and just assume it's all fact and not crowdsourced.

Speaker 2: 36:29

Let's see.

Speaker 1: 36:31

Let me guess February 14th.

Speaker 2: 36:34

Yeah, so I was going to skip the part where it tells you what day it is, because it doesn't tell you what day it is and what people do on it. But according to the background section, there are a number of saints called Valentine who are honored on February 14th. The days became associated with romantic love in the Middle Ages in England. Basically, this may have followed on from one of the pagan fertility festivals that were held, held all over europe as the winter came to the end. Uh, traditionally, lovers exchanged handwritten notes and then commercial cards became available in the mid 19th century.

Speaker 2: 37:06

Interesting enough, actually, I'm gonna go to wikipedia because there was a conflict there with like where it originated at, and I'm like, why might let me get wikipedia shot. Uh, don't hate us, or on these. I don't know if these references are good or not, but it actually says that valentine's day, also called saint valentine's day or the feast of saint valentine, originated as a christian feast honoring a martyr named valentine and through later folk traditions, it has also become a significant cultural, religious and commercial celebration of romance and love in many regions of the world. So immediately a stark contrast to the other article that was saying that originally it was a pagan holiday you know.

Speaker 1: 37:41

So, um, what do you do when you do have like several articles, all of them saying something different? Which one do you go and trust?

Speaker 2: 37:50

You know, you know probably an article that ends in like dotorg, or you know there's a historycom article too that I let's see no, yeah. So it says yeah each year. I'm going to go with the Christian side of it, because this one says each year, on February 14th, people exchange cars, candy or flowers with their special Valentine.

Speaker 1: 38:05

That's you for me.

Speaker 2: 38:07

Yeah, you're my Valentine too, my forever Valentine.

Speaker 1: 38:09

Hold on. Let me officially Ashley, will you be my Valentine this year?

Speaker 2: 38:15

Yes, thank you. Yes, I will.

Speaker 1: 38:18

Great.

Speaker 2: 38:19

But yeah, it says that St Valentine's Day is named after four Christian martyrs and dates back to the 5th century, but has origins of the Roman holiday, lupercalia. Okay, you know what it's kind of missing. It's kind of mixing them two together, so the Roman origins and different things, but those are three sources. I'm sure there's a truth out there, but that's on the fly.

Speaker 1: 38:39

There you go. Yeah, just like this episode.

Speaker 2: 38:42

Yes, it sure is so you're telling me that it didn't originate with gifting flowers and chocolate. According to that second article, it was exchanging handwritten notes, which actually is a lot more, I'll say.

Speaker 1: 38:57

At least to me it seems more meaningful oh well, I need, uh, I need to get something started on that.

Speaker 2: 39:03

When I'm really about to say it seems more meaningful because it's so hard for me to write things down. I'm definitely not like a good person. I don't really when it comes to like emotions. I'm not the best at writing my emotions out in a card or whatever, so that that would be more challenging. To end, I also.

Speaker 1: 39:18

you know it's. You're right Cause anytime we get a card for somebody, you're just like hey, just write something in there and I'll put my name next to it.

Speaker 2: 39:26

Yeah, you know, ashley and Jairus, or?

Speaker 1: 39:32

that's kind of like Ashley and Jairus blank.

Speaker 2: 39:35

There you go. We don't put our last names, we're all separate. So, okay, well, I think on some of our Christmas gifts last year we wrote our last name on them, because for my side of families we're the only people with our last name, but on your side of family it would.

Speaker 1: 39:57

It's. Several claim that it's funny because my brother well, uh, family always puts it as the blanks, like with the last name, yeah, and it's like this can't do that anymore, buddy. Well, you know, there's more blanks here. Now I, uh, we should start. We should start doing our christmas gifts and just being like the real blanks yeah fill in the blank in the comment section.

Speaker 1: 40:15

Everybody tell us what you think our last name is and if you know, don't actually put it how about to say you know, it's pretty sure it's not like we privated our accounts.

Speaker 2: 40:23

I'm pretty sure they can figure it out fairly quickly who we are.

Speaker 1: 40:27

We, if we ever start getting on a larger scale, probably need to do something about that. Yeah, finding looking up the name Jairus is not going to bring forward too many people.

Speaker 2: 40:40

It's really not. My name is very.

Speaker 1: 40:43

There is that criminal organization with the name Jairus.

Speaker 2: 40:48

I vaguely remember us talking about this.

Speaker 1: 40:50

It is the Japanese Aeronautics research something, something, and to my understanding, the backstory on that is that they were supposed to like create standards for airplanes in japan and they funded it and they went in to do it and all this stuff and they just flat out took the money and ran, apparently, and that is my history of that company, based off of my research I did a couple of years ago. I could be wrong, but hey, we love Japan anyways.

Speaker 2: 41:26

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 41:27

That's where we went on our honeymoon.

Speaker 2: 41:29

Yeah, it is.

Speaker 1: 41:31

What's your favorite thing in Japan? What was your favorite thing we did in japan?

Speaker 2: 41:35

um, I liked when we stayed at a traditional japanese ryokan which I'm probably butchering, but it was like a traditional japanese house. It had a little pond area in it.

Speaker 1: 41:44

We do you know what I'm about to bring up? No when we were doing the tour of the place when we first got there. Oh yeah, so Asian people are traditionally shorter people and their houses are built like that. And I am not built like that, I am tall. Yeah, I am 6'2" and walking through the house I hit my head really hard on a support beam.

Speaker 2: 42:12

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 42:13

And the Japanese lady just turned around and looked at me oh you're tall.

Speaker 2: 42:17

Laughed at me and said I'm tall, oh man yeah, no, it was definitely funny, but you have a habit of hitting your head on on different things, even in our house western, in our house, uh, in mexican restaurants, uh, sleeping, oh my gosh, I don't know what it is.

Speaker 1: 42:38

I'm not clumsy, but I am very prone to smashing my head on things, I don't know how, so I'll tell this story. So we were in that Mexican restaurant and we were all getting up to leave and as we were walking out, I smashed the side of my head on an AC unit that was hanging from the ceiling.

Speaker 2: 43:00

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 43:00

And I'm like on the ground, practically on the ground, holding my head like oh, oh, and Johnny and his whole family was there and they're like Jairus, are you okay, Are you okay? I'm like, yeah, I'm fine. I look up and Ashley's already ran out the door and she's already at the car oh yeah, I'm like sitting there like dying and you know, just look up Where's. I want to at least see my wife's beautiful, my beautiful wife's beautiful face One last time. Where is she? And she's just driving away.

Speaker 2: 43:30

Well, I think that was the day we went to Kroger.

Speaker 1: 43:32

right after too, I was probably thinking about getting to Kroger, yeah you were trying to get to that Kroger, yeah, and like I'm sitting there rubbing my head and it's funny, we get into the Kroger and I reach up and touch my head and I have like a golf ball-sized knot on my head. It's crazy because I recover fairly quickly.

Speaker 2: 43:58

It's a good recovery system you have there.

Speaker 1: 44:00

The other story I want to tell is the one that happened like two feet from where I'm sitting right now.

Speaker 2: 44:05

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 1: 44:06

Where you were in here cutting something. I can't remember what it was Lettuce. I think, Lettuce for dinner, you were making tacos. Ironically, maybe it's just tacos. We need to avoid any kind of Mexican-related food.

Speaker 2: 44:20

Well, tacos are my favorite food, so eating your helmet when we're around tacos is probably the better solution. Okay, got it.

Speaker 1: 44:27

So she's there cutting the lettuce and I come up behind her and I wait for her to not be cutting lettuce, so I reach over to grab a piece of lettuce so I could just eat it, because I'm a rabbit and I eat raw vegetables, yeah, but I reach over and I hit my head on the other side of my head just as hard as I did on that vent at the Mexican restaurant, but this time I am practically hugging my wife. I'm on top, practically on top, or I am touching my wife when I hit my head and again, oh, oh, oh oh, like moaning, like, oh, I'm in so much pain.

Speaker 1: 45:11

And not once did you even blink an eye or turn around and look to see what was wrong. And I said what are you doing? You said I'm cutting the lettuce, the thing is okay.

Speaker 2: 45:21

Well, it's probably some. Background is basically my whole life is haunted by Jared's, you know, running around corners on me, um, coming to the room laying on the ground to scare me when I walk around the bed, all types of stuff. So I'm just kind of used to the weirdness. I probably heard the bang. It probably didn't even register in my mind. Who knows, he might've been trying to scare me. Also, I love tacos. I was probably just thinking about eating food as fast as possible.

Speaker 1: 45:42

There's just a lot of things going on, but this time the knot on my head was about the size of a grape, so it wasn't as bad. But it was just so funny that I'm literally touching you when I get hurt and you don't even notice. I was just like dumbfounded by the fact that you didn't notice me smash my head again. It was like within like a week of one another happening.

Speaker 2: 46:04

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 46:05

But hey, I still love you.

Speaker 2: 46:07

I still love you, you know. Basically, it doesn't seem like you're trying to sabotage my taco eating experiences and you know I like Mexican food. So I mean I still love you.

Speaker 1: 46:14

Is that what you did? You are saying.

Speaker 2: 46:17

Nothing's going to ruin this moment no matter what, I'm going to hear this because I just want to remember how great those tacos were, you know?

Speaker 1: 46:24

Pretty much so. You talked about how I try to scare you all the time. That's true. I'm always waiting to mess with her one way or another. My favorite one, though, is this one wasn't me like laying around trying to scare you a lot of times, the ones that I get you the best with are the ones that I don't stand there and plan to do you know that's true.

Speaker 2: 46:47

Yeah, just the ones where you're just standing there like I thought you were somewhere else and you're not where I thought you were.

Speaker 1: 46:52

Yeah, there was that one time. I pretended to leave the house, though, yeah, and I opened the garage door, closed it and then, like, came back inside the house and slowly crept up behind you. You're sitting there on the couch playing your Sims, which we'll talk about in a second.

Speaker 2: 47:08

Yeah, yeah, creep up behind you real slow and I just get in here and I go, what are you doing? You see, this is what I'm talking about. It's like man dramatically leaves the house, closes the garage door. I'm like, all right, he's gone and uh, then you come back. It's just like no one can prepare. Prepare this, but also, I think, by in order for me not to be passing out a lot of times, I have to get a lower, I have to desensitize myself to stuff. So then when you, you really are in danger. It's like the boy who cried wolf, you banged your head. Now I can't hear you.

Speaker 1: 47:38

See, the thing is how many times I ever pretend I'm actually hurt though Several times. Name one.

Speaker 2: 47:46

Well, I don't know. Mainly it's when you pretend like I'm attacking you or like I'm harassing you or I don't know, I mean you're right. I or I'm harassing you, or I don't know, I mean you're right. I'm not really sure that you.

Speaker 1: 47:55

No, it's always the times that you hurt me by accident.

Speaker 2: 47:59

Like I actually scratch you sometimes.

Speaker 1: 48:01

Sometimes, there's been like three times maybe that I can think of recently that one time you scratched me and it left a huge scar on my arm.

Speaker 2: 48:07

It was about a fingernail size scar because of that. Yeah, Well it's gone now, so thank god.

Speaker 1: 48:12

No, the one that happened recently was last weekend. We were laying in bed and um, she reaches behind her head and starts like scratching her head and then she starts poking at my arm. And she keeps poking and scratching on my arm and pulling on it and I'm like, ow, ow, and she's like, oh, I'm sorry, I thought that was the blanket, what are you doing? Oh, no, first of all, I'm sure I was tired.

Speaker 2: 48:33

That's the thing is like oh.

Speaker 1: 48:34

I'm sorry, I thought that was the blanket.

Speaker 2: 48:35

What are you doing? I don't know. First of all, I'm sure I was tired, that's the thing. It's nighttime. I'm probably tired. It's dark, I don't know.

Speaker 1: 48:41

Yeah, I was like I'm going to go because I think I'm bleeding. I wasn't bleeding. What doesn't help, though, seriously all joking, joking aside is that you poke and prod, you'll hurt me by accident all the time. I'm always fine, yeah, but like you said, the way that I am, the way I joke and the way that I'm dramatic all the time, yeah, I will overreact every single time on purpose yeah like you'll.

Speaker 1: 49:06

What is it like when you touch my leg? I'll always have. I have that running joke that if you like, if you pat me on the leg, I'll just act like you about assaulted me, yeah.

Speaker 2: 49:15

So you know.

Speaker 1: 49:17

So my favorite time and this one's recent too of when I scared you, yeah, was I went upstairs I was going to start playing video games and I sat down and I started looking at something on my phone and I just started playing with my phone longer than I should have or planned to. And you came upstairs and you were looking for me, but I didn't have the lights on, so I'm just sitting there on my phone in the dark and I think I just set it down to start playing, turn on the TV and start playing the game. When you walked upstairs and you're looking for me and I'm like usually you come in and you like hone in immediately to my location and I'm watching you and I'm just leaning back on the couch watching you and he's just looking you're, you're looking for me and I go and you threw your phone across the room and screamed so loud I don't even remember this, but it's probably because I blacked it out.

Speaker 1: 50:17

You block it like the traumatic ones. Yeah, you block out, but yeah, just like just in the moment, me being finding an opportunity to scare you but didn't plan. It are always the ones that always end up being a lot funnier A lot of times.

Speaker 2: 50:30

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 50:30

And you bounce back, so it's okay, we'll find out later that you'll like in, like we'll be married for 50 years, and they'll be like, uh, miss ashley, you, you have a very weak heart. And then it's just like that flashback of just constant me coming out of the corners for 50 years.

Speaker 2: 50:48

I wonder why or am I like you have insane reflexes? Hopefully that's like the upside of that.

Speaker 1: 50:54

You know, just you know can react and recover so, but yeah, we did briefly mention the phrase the sims, um, so I think we should talk about that momentarily, get to know you a little bit better. So even though we've been sitting here talking to you for about 50 minutes, yeah, we talk about what is this is our transition into video games. That we like enjoy, or something like that yeah, yeah that, or we can talk about mufasa let's talk about.

Speaker 2: 51:22

Let's talk about the sins.

Speaker 1: 51:23

Let's start with that yeah, we talked about this before, about, uh, we can talk about like we've been on a terrible movie streak, like I think the one we watched last night wasn't awful, but I fell asleep so I don't know how it ended, but we don't have to get into that. But I think the past six movies we've watched they've all been very bad movies and it's like I would very much like to watch a good movie at some point. It's just me and Ashley. We watch a lot of movies together, yeah, and we get on some binge-watching streaks of like, oh my gosh, this movie was so great and unfortunately, I think the last great movie that we watched together was Wicked.

Speaker 2: 52:05

Yeah, ironically, because I'm not a big musical person. I don't think you're a big musical person either, but that really brought the emotionalities in you. I mean, there were some odd kind of weird scenes in the movie that I didn't like, like you know, like probably some maybe one song I would have cut out, that I didn't. I was like, okay, I don't really enjoy this, but otherwise it was very good story. They actually built character development. There's actually distinct characters. They weren't all you know carbon copies, they weren't doing a whole bunch of message pushing, pushing, excuse me, maybe about like friendship, you know but yeah, it was a good movie, but Yep.

Speaker 1: 52:38

And then the last movie we watched in theaters was Mufasa, and that movie was awful.

Speaker 2: 52:45

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 52:46

We don't have to get into it, just like we both agree that movie was very poorly made. Very much Like you use the phrase cash grab a lot and I don't really like that phrase, but this movie was a cash grab.

Speaker 2: 53:01

Yeah, I use it mainly for the Disney films, like where they're, you know, running IPs into the ground like Disney, Star Wars, Disney Marvel, I mean basically even the live actions. I'm not a big live action person. I'm more than happy to just watch the Lion King the original version. It's still good, the songs are still amazing, it's timeless, and then, you know, just seeing them make Mufasa, which basically the Mufasa that they characterize in this movie. I cannot imagine him growing up and becoming the Mufasa that's in Lion King.

Speaker 1: 53:34

All these characters in this movie feel like they're completely different from the classic movie, Even the live action Lion King that this was spawned off of, of the live action remake. These characters don't feel like that they belong in that world.

Speaker 2: 53:53

Yeah. It's just, it's not good, with the exception, I think, of rafiki and maybe nala, because I didn't because nala wasn't in that movie, though you think of zarabi no, she, she was and oh very, yeah, you're right.

Speaker 1: 54:08

Very briefly so, any of the characters that were in the movie before the flashback.

Speaker 2: 54:14

Yes.

Speaker 1: 54:15

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 54:16

But yeah, I mean I didn't watch the original Lion King remake because I just didn't think it would be good. It's going to be Beyonce voice and character. I'm like I don't like when actors that are just sorry, musicians that are you know, people who are Beyonce. You're her voice. I'm going to hear Beyonce if she's speaking. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 54:32

I'm just going to hear her. Funny enough, though, with Donald Glover, it doesn't happen that way with that movie.

Speaker 2: 54:37

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 54:37

Yeah, but anyways, the Sims. Yeah, my wife, the one thing that she loves more than me, and God.

Speaker 2: 54:46

Wait a minute, hold on.

Speaker 1: 54:52

Okay, she loves God more, but she love the sims more than me. No, okay, I will come home. I have a picture of you. You have, you have your on your computer playing the sims and you have like 10 pages of blueprints laid out that you printed off so that you can then copy and build your houses in the Sims. Yeah, so Like you take it very seriously.

Speaker 2: 55:21

I mean, I've been playing the Sims since I was probably like middle school, I think. I started with the Sims 2 and then went to Sims 3 and then I'm now to Sims 4. And they had the Sims 4 for 10 years. So I'm playing the same game for 10 years because they I don't even think they plan on making a Sims 5 now.

Speaker 1: 55:38

Um and how many hours do you have in that game?

Speaker 2: 55:41

over like 6,000 or something. But to my to, to the credit, you know not that I can really justify you know that much time, but I do let the game just run. Sometimes we're just like it's just so easy to pause it and do something else, so some of those hours are just inflated. It's not like active gameplay, but yeah, so that's just the game that it helps me de-stress, because I mean.

Speaker 1: 56:02

Everybody has that.

Speaker 2: 56:03

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 56:04

Which I'll poke and prod. This is me being real me for a second. I will mess with her all day about it, I don't care, I. I will mess with her all day about it, I don't care. I think it's a very interesting game and I love that you have something that you enjoy. Personally, I don't enjoy those type of games simulation games but I won't yuck your yum, you know.

Speaker 2: 56:26

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 56:27

Seriously, I won't seriously yuck your yum, but I will mess with you all the time about it. Otherwise, yeah. Though, seriously, I feel like it's every single day where you'll be like, oh, they got a new Sims thing out, can I get it? I'm like you're your own grown woman, buy the thing you want.

Speaker 2: 56:44

Well, that's the thing we're going to talk about. A little bit about modern day games, microtransactions, because obviously the Sims is a very mature game. It's a 10-year-old game. There's tons of unresolved bugs. Pretty much a lot of people in the Sims community are really mad with EA like the company that makes the Sims about how they don't really maintain the game. Well, they don't do a lot of quality assurance testing before they publish a game or a pack or an expansion pack to the game. It's like they expect the actual players to be the testers of the game and to fix the bugs after the fact and have you ever noticed that if they release a pack that previous things do, they break or get fixed more often?

Speaker 1: 57:24

okay, let me rephrase that question do things get broken more or fixed more?

Speaker 2: 57:30

you feel like I feel like things break repeatedly. Like there's certain things that you just know when they make a new pack it's going to break. Like there's this bug that's kind of gets fixed. It doesn't get fixed for, like, you can have a farm and have a farm animals like cows I think it's llamas and chickens and the chickens can lay eggs. Like you have a rooster and you have a hen, they can have an egg that's fertile. You can put it on this little in the egg coop and it'll become a hatched baby chick, right.

Speaker 2: 57:55

Well, there's a bug where, like the hatchable eggs, you're not supposed to be able to dispose of them if they're on the coop because they're supposed to incubate for a certain amount of time and then hatch. But sometimes the sims will see the eggs as spoiled, which is an error, because obviously if you leave a normal egg out, you don't put it on the incubator or in the coop. It should spoil anyways. There's a common error that always happens every time they issue a patch. They'll fix it and then the new game come out and then now it's broken again. Then they'll fix it again. They'll put another pack out and it's broken. It's, it's like, consistent and you think that right, like if you're, because I actually used to work at a company where I was a part of the user acceptance testing for applications we built within our company, and so we would have test cases where there's certain test scenarios. You always test Like you always check to make sure you know.

Speaker 1: 58:42

If you do something, this more than likely will break.

Speaker 2: 58:46

Make sure that this is working when you're done Right and it's clear they definitely don't do that Because maybe it's just because it's a 10-year-old game.

Speaker 2: 58:52

There's like probably 40 or 50 packs in total that you could buy and so the interconnectedness of all those games and then building on you know they're constantly adding on to.

Speaker 2: 59:02

So they probably, if they, if they had a use case or test case for all the different packs, it will probably take a long amount of time, but that's kind of what we expect. Like right now they just released a preview or trailer for a pack they're releasing in, I think, april and so you can pre-order it now, right, so like from now to April, like if you're announcing the pack, you would hope that it was mostly done and then they'd be in it like the last you know round of like testing it, you know, getting it to the point where it's ready to roll out. But it's like I seriously doubt that they're probably gonna work all the way into the day that it's supposed to drop, get in the best shape that they can and then roll it out and then literally the first week you have the pack it's going to be broken, like basically the point where EA is known for releasing broken game packs, I mean to be fair, that's not just the Sims.

Speaker 1: 59:45

They kind of have a reputation that they do that with all their games.

Speaker 2: 59:49

Right and so, yeah, that's why it's like EA, people have a thing against EA and so there are actually some other games that are coming out. There are life simulation games, I think one's called Inzoe. There was another one that was supposed to come out but it lost funding or they. You know the game company, what do they call it? A production company. I don't know the studio that was producing it. They closed or something.

Speaker 2: 1:00:14

So people are hoping that they get some competition the sims with this new inzoi game, life simulation game and actually improve their process, because whenever we do hear like this life simulation game they're close to being released. Then the sims oftentimes people feel like the people they will release something with the sims that might have similar features. Like people have been complaining for years about having curved walls, something that, like you know, there's an interior design aspect of the sims, like building houses and stuff like that that you can do for your sims, and they wanted curved walls and curved windows. Well, it came out that the new life simulation game was demoing those features in their game and it was like, oh, never mind, now we have an update that sims that you can now, you know, use this function. So it's like you know, competition will be healthy. I think that might actually make them, you know, a little bit better at the sims if they do have competition.

Speaker 1: 1:00:51

But right now they're pretty much a monopoly in the in the industry I think that I can name two games off the top of my head that also do that as well, which is tim tim and pow world, both to go against pokemon. It's like people been like we want an open world pokemon game and kind of a survival game like, you know, minecraft, but mixed with Pokemon, and Pokemon has been kind of making the same templated game and releasing it, you know.

Speaker 1: 1:01:22

Right and it's like so Power World does that, and they get sued by Pokemon.

Speaker 2: 1:01:26

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:01:27

And it's like and then Tim Tim does the same thing, where it's like we're going to make a multiplayer Pokemon game that kind of takes the aspects of pokemon and improves upon them, they get sued by pokemon. So it's just like yeah, I feel like ea will probably try to sue this other company. It's like but you don't have the copyright on a generic idea. You know what I mean yeah, it's like if I invented a light bulb and the the edison company comes out and says you can't do that.

Speaker 2: 1:01:56

You know what I mean yeah, because even patents have like a certain year was, like you know, certain number of years before. Like you can, it has to be released, made public, right. But I feel like the sims literally this year celebrating their 25th anniversary. So I can't imagine them being able to say like, hey, we've been out for 25 years, we still, you still can't make any other life sim game. I mean, it's not like it's a direct competitor when they first started 25 years ago.

Speaker 1: 1:02:16

You know, so tell the audience what you bought yesterday what did I buy yesterday?

Speaker 2: 1:02:21

the 25th anniversary release oh, yeah, I did it. So like they re-released the sims one and two on windows only, so not for mac users, but where you could buy the legacy versions of the game with all the packs, except for, I think, one that was missing for sims 2, which is the ikea pack, but I think it was because they didn't have the rights to it anymore. And also reminds me actually I think I have a hard copy of like the ikea game, but I don't have a disk drive. I might see if I could use the code or something and use it. But yeah, I mean that was interesting.

Speaker 2: 1:02:50

It was something people wanted desperately because currently you can play the old version of the Sims but you have to use all these workarounds and like these mods to get to run properly on. You know modern systems, but they actually fixed a lot of that stuff kind of. Actually they actually had to pass it really quickly because they broke some stuff. So actually there was some more typical EA stuff. But the issue people also had was like these are like over like 20 year old games and they released a bundle for $40. And so on the one hand, like a game pack for the current Sims 4 games is $40 on its own and normally it basically adds basic features or additional features to the game. But it's always conversation. There's really $40 for you to add, like high school, to the Sims or whatever. You know. That's the whole Captain Bozell argument, captain's argument. Like you know, they really charge you a lot people, like they could have just re-released them for free.

Speaker 1: 1:03:41

That would have been nice, but no, yeah. So the moral of the lesson here is what, and really what we're coming out here to say is please send the ashley jarris family of money, because we're broke because we keep buying Sims things. Well, my wife keeps buying Sims things. So, we're hungry.

Speaker 2: 1:04:01

Well, you know, honestly, it is kind of crazy. Sims is really they, are they really? The problem is with, like something like the Sims, like they just know. They have like very devoted fans of the, even with all the bugs, even with all the drama it's like people have. It's like one of those household games. Right, they have a.

Speaker 1: 1:04:18

Is it because I mean and this is going to sound awful, but it's because of people like you who keep coming back and playing it and not really holding the company accountable, and the real way to do that is to just Stop buying everything they put out. Stop buying the games and they'll start. I hate that idea because it's like I hear the phrase vote with your wallet a lot.

Speaker 2: 1:04:39

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:04:39

It's like I don't want the thing I love to go away when I'm playing it. I just want them to fix it. But if I stop playing and everybody stops playing it, the more likely outcome is going to be that they shut down the game series or the company because they're no longer making money instead of fixing the problems.

Speaker 2: 1:05:01

Yeah, that's that you know. I get it Because every time that they release a broken pack or it's a game pack, expansion pack, a stuff pack, a kit they have so many different types of packs they release to the game that sometimes you argue can it just be a free base game update, do you really need the money? But they people will say like, hey, don't buy the pre-orders because that just if you keep pre-ordering the game, they're never gonna be incentivized to really work hard to give a really good product. If everyone pre-orders it, before you know it's even out. And then on top of that people buy it right when it comes out. And me at my big age like I'm in my 30s now it's kind of like one of those things where, like you, know, when I was a kid.

Speaker 2: 1:05:33

You know you kind of have like that motion thing. You can't get everything you want, but then as adults, like it's like one of those simple joys you just you kind of can get yeah, like as an adult, you're able to get the things you want.

Speaker 1: 1:05:46

It's not as life-changing to you know. When you're a kid you know twenty dollars is20 is a lot of money, but it's not.

Speaker 2: 1:05:55

And it's life changing too.

Speaker 1: 1:05:56

It's a life changing amount, yeah, but when you you know as an adult working a job, as long as you're smart with your funds, you can buy a $20 pack once a month and it's not going to hurt you.

Speaker 2: 1:06:08

Yeah, in reality they really don't release like the $40 packs. That's probably every couple months. So if you really break down my month, it's probably you know.

Speaker 1: 1:06:16

I think it was a coincidence of how. So much. Yeah, I made the joke, but, like you said, it's the 25th anniversary, so they probably they released a lot of stuff. They did all at once or over a span of a week or two yeah, within like the first two months of the year.

Speaker 2: 1:06:29

I mean, well, we're going to go into the second month, but like they released like five kits, which is unprecedented. They released, like you know, like they released re-release, the sims one and two. So there's a lot of back-to-back stuff and people were actually kind of not expecting it to be that big of a deal, because I think when it was the 20th anniversary of the sims they didn't do a whole lot, but I guess the 25th anniversary they're doing a lot more. Like they update their store with stuff. That, I'm not gonna lie, I actually liked it too. Like they have a gaming mat that I like that has sims related stuff on it. That looks kind of cool you know I'm not, you know.

Speaker 2: 1:06:58

They do put out stuff that people who are fans of the work that they do like it's not. Like. They're like giving you, like you know, t-shirts that have the sims on it in all black and white t-shirts. Like they've got their way to actually make products that are not, definitely not worth what they are. Like a t-shirt worth $40 it just says like soul, soul on it, which is one of the phrases the sims make, but it's unique enough that you you like it. You know it's he resonates with you, you, uh.

Speaker 1: 1:07:21

You came to me and you said I bought myself something for the sims, like a um, like a physical merchandise for the game. And it took me forever to realize that what you bought was sims related, because it's just a mug with a cat on it yes, and if you also, it's a rabbit sorry, it's a rabbit, yeah, and if you play the sims, you told me it's.

Speaker 1: 1:07:46

It's everywhere. It's a reference to the games, but if you were just here in our house you're like, oh, oh, I want the rabbit mug. You wouldn't know it was from the Sims.

Speaker 2: 1:07:55

That's true.

Speaker 1: 1:07:56

You told me I got this thing from the Sims and I think it took me two weeks to realize that that was what that was.

Speaker 2: 1:08:04

Yeah, because at the time I got the mug I mean it was overpriced, I think it was $15. But I actually got you a hat too.

Speaker 1: 1:08:18

I think it was 30 like we're beanie and your beanie actually is like green and has a green and what do you like that?

Speaker 2: 1:08:21

like that, the plum, plum blob, yeah, plum bob, yeah, you remember that is actually what it is.

Speaker 1: 1:08:23

I just made a word up. Plum bob, yeah. So, like when you play the sims, your character has this little icon above their head to signify that you're controlling that character one character, because you can have a house hope like five sims.

Speaker 2: 1:08:31

So the one that you're controlling has a little green plumb bob over their head.

Speaker 1: 1:08:35

So yeah, it's a plumb bob on my head just meaning I'm being controlled. I don't know.

Speaker 2: 1:08:40

Yeah, but your cap actually is more recognizable than probably than what I bought myself, which is that mug, you know.

Speaker 1: 1:08:45

Hey, I mean, look, my thing is Kingdom Hearts, I will get the wackiest thing. So I understand, I understand, I understand fandoms.

Speaker 2: 1:08:52

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:08:53

But hey, I'm just looking over at my clock and it's time, yeah. So hey, my wife, my dearest, dearest wife, thank you so much for joining us on the 22nd episode of the Saints that Serve podcast.

Speaker 2: 1:09:09

Thank you for having me. I don't know that it was the most Valentine's Day theme. I guess the theme was just that we know it's coming.

Speaker 1: 1:09:17

We're a married couple and we are look to wrap it up. This is what a healthy, normal marriage looks like. It's two people who enjoy each other's company, who have in common hobbies we both love movies movies.

Speaker 1: 1:09:35

We both love video games yeah and we both love god and that's like really like it doesn't. I mean those things help to have like um, hobbies, to have a better understanding of one another, and that like on the video game side of things, I think this is very important of understanding how catastrophic Like I see these all the time, like the quote unquote prank videos online of like the girlfriend or the boyfriend Well, it's usually a girlfriend in the ones I see, but the girlfriend, you know, he's not spending enough time with me, so I, you know, I destroyed his. You know I deleted his save. You know what I mean, Because you know, or you know it's a prank. You know what I mean Because you know, or you know it's a prank. I, you know, I just deleted your game. It was a, it was a silly prank and because you have so much time put into that, Right.

Speaker 1: 1:10:19

And I have the time put in my games. We understand both sides of how, honestly, how catastrophic it would be to your progress and and just all that work that you put in the game, and for a lot of people it's more than just a game. That is your, you know. Like you said, that is your way to decompress and to relieve stress and it's like I would never take that away from you.

Speaker 2: 1:10:41

Yeah, and it's like it's silly, but in games even then you have achievements. You know like they're virtual achievements but like you do put your time in there and effort in there. So it always makes me cringe when people kind of don't have a appreciation for, like the interests of the person they love or you know.

Speaker 1: 1:10:57

Yeah, Like, even if so, if you have a significant other who's into video games, understand that is something that greatly affects their mental health. You know that is something.

Speaker 2: 1:11:13

you know they might be sitting there screaming at the video game, but really that's just them decompressing yeah so don't, don't take that away from somebody yeah, as long as they're still like functioning as a human being in society and like, yeah, if they're being a bum, you know, yeah, delete their save.

Speaker 1: 1:11:24

But like, if that's just something, I mean, if they're doing all the things right in the family and they just have their hobby also, don't, don't take that away from them yeah, I agree, I got a little off topic of my point, but you know, but yeah, seriously, like you can have your video games and you can have your movies or your hobbies or whatever, in your marriage, I I am blessed to have somebody that is we line up very well with one another with our hobbies, seriously, the one thing that you need to have in a marriage that is something y'all agree upon is God. You need to have God. You need to sit down as a married couple, read the Bible together, pray together and just have God in the middle of your marriage, in the middle of your relationship, and just allow God to be the center of that. That's the most important thing and I think that's the best message I can give on this Valentine's Day episode.

Speaker 2: 1:12:23

I agree that's a great way to end the episode.

Speaker 1: 1:12:27

So do you know how we close out the episodes?

Speaker 2: 1:12:30

I mean I should, because I listened to 21 episodes, several bonus episodes, but I'm on the spot.

Speaker 1: 1:12:36

I'll just do it. It's fine. So Christ is Lord and the kingdom is now.

Speaker 2: 1:12:42

We are the saints that serve. You got it, woo. I did the end.

Speaker 1: 1:12:47

All right. Thank y'all so much for listening. God bless. Beautiful, friendly and loving cat with green eyes seen on Cooper Drive. Maybe it's an indoor, maybe it's an outdoor cat that's on rank.

Speaker 2: 1:13:19

I'm going with. It's an outdoor cat. It's outdoors.

Speaker 1: 1:13:24

There was another one I saw a minute ago. That was like hey, if you're looking for your chihuahua, I hid it with my car, okay,