Paulette: 0:02

Buen día, mi gente, and welcome to La Vida Más Chévere de Childfree Latinas, the only Spanglish podcast for childfree Latinas y Latines, trying to dismantle the toxic cultural brainwashing we all grew up in so that we can design our best lives instead. I'm your resident childfree Latina and host, Paulette Erato. Today, the toxic cultural bullshit that we are unlearning is that childfree people, we exist and we are not the devil. I know you don't need convincing of that since you're already a listener of La Vida Más Chévere, but this might be the episode you send to those people that keep badgering you about when you're having kids. Let them hear it straight from a parent. And if you need additional help with that, especially if it's your own parents that keep bugging you about this, I have an episode with my mom, too. She'll give them a piece of her mind. That link will be in the show notes. In what has quickly become a year of firsts, I've invited my brother Erik, who's not only the first straight Latino on the show, but also the first father to come on. That's right, my brother Erik is not childfree, but his one and only sister is. And we've never talked about it, so why not have the very first discussion about it on this show? You might be surprised by what he has to say. While you're looking over his bio in the show notes, be sure to click on the link to subscribe to the Substack. As an extra for subscribers, I'm releasing the origin story behind Erik becoming a meme making machine. Not me-mes, memes. Also, I might throw in a Beerocrats YouTube video as well. Those were the days. By the way, our parents saddled both of us with awkward names. Mine, Paulette, no one's ever heard of that, no one knows how to spell it. And Erik's is spelled differently than your autocorrect wants it to be. He's named after Erik Estrada, yes, the actor from CHiPs, and therefore it's spelled with a K, not a C. Got it? Cool, let's go talk to Erik with a K. Mr. Fontanez, will you please introduce yourself to the audience?

Erik: 2:12

I am Erik Fontanez, commonly known to the rap industry as Nameless. Commonly known to the marketing industry as The Guy Who Makes Memes. Commonly known to the podcasting industry as the Stache Man, or For Meme Not You. But, most notably, I am known as your little brother.

Paulette: 2:37

My baby brother.

Erik: 2:38

Baby brother, sorry. That makes sense, because I still wear diapers, so, for those everyday accidents.

Paulette: 2:45

It's because you're old now.

Erik: 2:46

Hey, man, some things in life you can control. Your bowels? Not one of them.

Paulette: 2:52

Oh, my. Anyway, so, everybody welcome my baby brother to the program today, and the reason that Erik is on, well, one, he's Latino.

Erik: 3:03

Si.

Paulette: 3:04

But he is a father.

Erik: 3:06

I am.

Paulette: 3:07

So you're not childfree. However, we've never had this conversation, and I'm all about the first time we have a real conversation recording it.

Erik: 3:15

Yes, all for the natural approach.

Paulette: 3:17

We've never talked about how you feel about me being childfree. Not that your opinions are going to change how I feel about my life, because obviously I'm very happy in my life, and we get along really well. We've always been pretty tight. So, we'll jump into that in just a second. What I was going to say is this is kind of also a reunion for us because we used to have a YouTube channel.

Erik: 3:40

We did.

Paulette: 3:42

We talked about beer and that was so much fun.

Erik: 3:45

Beerocrats represent.

Paulette: 3:48

Circle back to what you said about the rap community. You, you released a mixtape in the early 2000s?

Erik: 3:54

2006, yes. The, the Anthem. It was very much my passion project that I did with my buddy Free Speech, a. k. a. Aswan Morgan. He and I got together and over a period of time we produced, wrote, and recorded 29 different tracks and put it out as a mixtape. Sold it in record stores because those stores existed at the time. And, uh, you know, got a little bit of rap fame, albeit locally, and maybe in the tens of people that were following us at the time. But I did, I did at one point have over 10,000 MySpace friends. So that was, that was, uh, I did, I absolutely did. And the only reason that happened was not because I was popular, because Aswan figured out a way to hack into Myspace and get us a whole bunch of followers and friends. He did it for me, in a means of 10,000 people. He did it for himself, in the result of 100,000 people.

Paulette: 4:59

Holy cow.

Erik: 5:00

Yeah. Then one day I decided, yeah, I'm not going to do that anymore. And I moved on from the rap game. And now I am just a marketing professional who professionally markets.

Paulette: 5:11

You're a marketing monkey.

Erik: 5:12

Yeah, I'm all over swinging from every tree, trying to get that banana.

Paulette: 5:17

How is the banana getting business? Appealing?

Erik: 5:21

No, I didn't say that. It is definitely not appealing, but you know, I'm getting, I'm getting after mine, getting my bananas in my bag. You know, as they say.

Paulette: 5:31

As who says?

Erik: 5:32

The kids.

Paulette: 5:34

I wouldn't know.

Erik: 5:35

They, the kids say the darndest things. That's right. Because you're a childfree Latina.

Paulette: 5:40

So I asked a question while I was a bit inebriated on Instagram the night before we recorded this.

Erik: 5:47

As you should be.

Paulette: 5:48

I was like, look, I'm interviewing my brother tomorrow. If you have any questions for someone who has a childfree sibling, ask away. And then I shared a little story of how I did ask our older brother, Dale, who just recently turned 57. When he came to visit me in Puerto Rico, I asked him, what's it like for you to have a sister who doesn't want kids? And he's like, it sucks. I just, I just laughed. I laughed because it was unexpected. I really didn't expect him to say that. I didn't realize he felt like that, and the reason

Erik: 6:26

Are you sure he wasn't inebriated?

Paulette: 6:28

He was not at the time.

Erik: 6:30

Okay.

Paulette: 6:30

But he said, it sucks because I would want to share this parenting journey with you, which I understand. It's kind of a misery loves company kind of thing maybe, but also, you know, it's a big deal. It is a big deal to raise other humans. I get that. I have watched you both raise humans and it's been fun being the auntie on the side. The titi that they come to when they want to talk shit about their parents.

Erik: 6:58

Mm hmm.

Paulette: 6:58

I am always honored to be the one that they talk shit to about you. So that's great.

Erik: 7:06

Yeah, that sounds wonderful.

Paulette: 7:08

It's all the fun and none of the responsibility.

Erik: 7:10

Absolutely.

Paulette: 7:10

I mean, whenever I take your kids and hang out with them, I bring them back in one piece.

Erik: 7:15

That's true. And I appreciate that. It's less cleanup for me.

Paulette: 7:20

I mean, they might be a little sugared up.

Erik: 7:22

Little bit. That's okay. I mean, I don't, I don't send a menu with them when I send them to you. So I guess it's reasonable that you're like, Hey, what do you feed these things? Sugar? All right. Give it to them.

Paulette: 7:35

I like that your kids like a bunch of different foods. Like they're not super picky eaters and I don't know if they ever were. But like Dale's kids, who are significantly older than your children, because your brother is significantly older than you, they were slightly pickier. The first time I took the eldest, Gabi, who is the only girl, out for sushi, she was like ew. Well, what did we go eat last time we went out to dinner? Sushi.

Erik: 7:59

Of course. My kids, unfortunately, you know, while they're not necessarily picky eaters, they do have palates that are considered bougie.

Paulette: 8:09

Mm hmm. Oh, yeah.

Erik: 8:11

Like, for example, we'll, we'll go out to dinner and we'll go to, like, pick any restaurant. Dad gets the chicken strips, the french fries, make sure I got some ranch. I'm all for it. The other two, my children, get glazed salmon with a side of vegetables and make sure, make sure the salmon is well prepared because if it's not, I will send it back. That's them. I don't know where they're learning this, but it's frustrating. You're lucky you're childfree.

Paulette: 8:44

I know. Thank you.

Erik: 8:45

You're welcome.

Paulette: 8:46

Tangent, Erik rocks an accent. He is extremely talented at accents, so this is going to be fun.

Erik: 8:53

This will be very entertaining for the Latino audience, sí.

Paulette: 8:57

Coming back to your kids bougie tastes.

Erik: 9:01

See, French, I know French too, bougie. Is that French? I don't even know.

Paulette: 9:06

Yeah.

Erik: 9:07

Okay.

Paulette: 9:07

Comes from the, the bourgeoisie.

Erik: 9:10

Wow, wow, listen, I don't speak that much French. Slow your roll there.

Paulette: 9:16

How much Spanish do you speak, Erik?

Erik: 9:17

El queso está viejo y podrido. Dónde está el sanitario? Solo para ti.

Paulette: 9:24

Oh, el sanitario.

Erik: 9:25

El sanitario. Olé. That's the extent of my Spanish right there.

Paulette: 9:32

All right, Brasstacks, what is it like for you to have a sibling who doesn't want kids?

Erik: 9:39

Honestly, I never think about it. Like, that's why I made that face when you said our older brother was like, this fucking sucks. Why? How is this affecting your life? Like, come on, man. Listen, this is my opinion, obviously. We are under no obligation to adhere to the societal or cultural norms imposed on us by previous generations. This is not something I ever believe, and that goes across a bunch of things. That's, you know, friends, relationships, work, the American grind is something that I think is marketing well-executed. That's all. So for people to have this opinion that, Oh, you have to have children to procreate and whatnot. You know, first of all, mind your own freaking business. Secondly, why do you need me to have children? Go make some of your own. Get out of my business. And so the fact that you don't have kids is not something that has ever like bothered me or has ever been on my mind. I've always respected the fact that you didn't want kids, you don't want to bring them into this world. Like, people want that responsibility, but some people don't, and for good reason, because it's a lot of freaking responsibility. Like, I have, as you said, two boys whom I look after every day, they're the first thing I think about when I wake up, they're the last thing I think about before I go to sleep, I'm always worried about them, I'm always concerned about how they're doing, and if they're making the right decisions, or If I've taught them well. That's the other thing, too, is that you put a lot of pressure on yourself as a parent to be a good parent. And, you know, humans, they're already subjected to all this kind of pressure to be people and what have you, but parents, we always look at ourselves as the worst parents and always want to do better when really we just need to sit back, relax, and say you're doing the best that you can. So, with the fact that you don't have kids that's all good for you. Like, you get to get up whenever you want on the weekend. You get to go on vacation because you can afford it because you're not spending$150 in the last minute because they needed to do some sort of science project and they forgot to tell you. And, you know, that none of that shit is something you have to worry about. So, you're enjoying your life in the way that you see fit. We all have the natural freedom to enjoy life the way that we see fit. And anybody else who tries to step in and says, no, you can't live your life that way, is honestly full of shit and they need to check themselves and stay in their lane. So that's how I feel.

Paulette: 12:29

I appreciate that. That was beautiful. You hit so many of my points. It's like you've been listening to my podcast.

Erik: 12:37

I've been listening to you your whole life because you're my older sister. But you know, I've, I've always valued your opinion, but you're always somebody who I've looked to to say. What would my sister think about this? Like, how could she help me in this kind of situation? Because honestly, I've faced things that I didn't know how to approach no matter how much experience I had. But I know my sister has had a lot of life experience herself. So I've always valued whatever kind of opinion or whatever kind of feedback you could give me. That if I didn't have that, that's what would bother me. The fact that you don't have kids, good for you, man. Go to fricking Greece, if you want to go to Greece on a Thursday, like have fun. I'll be over here picking up a kid from trumpet practice and waiting for the other one to get off of work because he needs a ride because he doesn't have his license yet. Yeah, that's my life. And you know what? But at the same time, wouldn't trade it for the world. I love those two more than life itself.

Paulette: 13:37

They are really, really good kids.

Erik: 13:39

They are.

Paulette: 13:39

There was something that came up in my feed today, and it was about a woman divorcing her husband because they were both childfree. And something happened with the sister, like she abandoned the children who are young. They're very little. The oldest is five, and then there's two year old twins. There's always twins in these stories. Anyway, so she abandoned her kids at the brother's house who this woman is married to. And he wants to keep them. She's like, we don't have the resources for this. And she's like, would I be the asshole if I divorced my husband over this? Because I don't know that I can do it. And that's tough. And Ryan and I had those discussions, you know, early on when the kids were still really little. We're like, you know, there's a lot of people around your nuclear family that would step in to help with childcare, that would help if something happened to either of you. And thankfully that has not been necessary because you're both still here. And now there's a step mom. Which is great. You added one more parent to the bunch. So it's like the, the succession ladder. Like we're, we're that much further removed from needing to ascend to the throne.

Erik: 14:58

Hopefully succession in the positive sense and not in the sense of the HBO show, because that would just be cutthroat.

Paulette: 15:03

Which is an excellent show.

Erik: 15:05

Highly recommend.

Paulette: 15:06

Also highly highlights people who should not have children. People who have children.

Erik: 15:12

Oh yeah.

Paulette: 15:13

To use them as pawns in a game.

Erik: 15:17

Yeah.

Paulette: 15:18

Great, great evidence of horrible parenting.

Erik: 15:22

Yeah. Logan Roy, not winning any dad of the year trophies anytime soon.

Paulette: 15:28

But anyway, from a personal perspective, I think that would have been a really, really hard thing for us to do. But if we had been faced with that very real possibility, I don't know what we would have done to tell you the truth. I'm only a godparent to one of the four niblings I have, which are neither of your children, because you didn't even have them baptized, did you?

Erik: 15:49

I did not, no.

Paulette: 15:50

But I mean, it's not about Catholic sacraments. It's about making sure that those children grow up to be fulfilled and not traumatized and you know, as, as well functioning as one can produce for this world. And we were on the same page that that was the ultimate goal. So, whether or not we had to do that ourselves versus our parents or their other grandparents, you know, that would have been a cross that bridge.

Erik: 16:21

And I've thought about that too, like, what if something happened to me and, you know, somebody needed to take care of the boys. I was confident that I had the family foundation to where the ghost version of me wouldn't have to worry about it. Just because, like, the family has shown Alex and Nicholas crazy amounts of love and support ever since they were born, and they'll continue to do that. So I'm not, I was never worried about that kind of thing, and I completely understand that you guys would be like, I don't know what we would do in that situation, because guess what? That's a situation that's in an instant, and you're supposed to make a decision right then and there? That's a whole lot of responsibility being an instant parent, you know, it's, it takes some, it takes some grooming. But hey, you know, that's never, never a concern for me just because like everybody I think would step up. They say it takes a village, we got a whole city worth of family foundation and that was always the case.

Paulette: 17:24

Yeah. Yeah. I think you guys are really lucky that way.

Erik: 17:27

Yeah.

Paulette: 17:27

Conversely, so were we, because our village was always supportive of, of us not having kids either.

Erik: 17:34

Yes.

Paulette: 17:34

Which was rad. I, I think part of the reason I was so shocked by Dale's comment is that he had never, ever given me any inclination that he thought negatively of that. And again, his reasoning made complete sense. It made complete sense, and I get it. But he also, it's none of his business, and he was clear with me that he gets that I enjoy my life. And he's happy for that. Cause Dale, you know, when I was little, Dale was who I looked up to in the same way that you do me. Because before you came along, that's, that was the only brother I had. I had another question for you.

Erik: 18:18

What up?

Paulette: 18:18

You can think on this. We'll move on to the easier stuff and then we'll come back to it.

Erik: 18:22

Okay.

Paulette: 18:22

Would you have any advice for other people who find themselves in your situation where they have a sibling who doesn't want kids? You like having kids, so, so ponder on that for a little bit if you have any advice for people out there and maybe even advice for the childfree people who feel hounded by their own family.

Erik: 18:42

I can answer those right now if you want me to.

Paulette: 18:45

Okay. Cool.

Erik: 18:46

Okay. So, for the childfree people who may face some sort of pressure or anything from people who think they should have kids, fuck anybody who says you need to have kids. First of all, okay, you made an adult decision not to procreate and that is completely within your rights. If you are experiencing some sort of pressure from family or people close to you that are pressuring you into this kind of thing, It would be perfectly within your rights and understandable that you cut those people off. Like, they should not have a space to say, you need to do this with your body and you need to do this with your life. They don't have any kind of room for that. And for the people like myself who have kids, And have siblings or, or people close to them who don't have kids, man, babysitters who are adults get paid in alcohol, alright? I know that I could go to my sister and say, Hey, take the kids for a weekend and I'll buy you a nice bottle of wine. My sister would be like, absolutely! One, she likes having the temporary time with the kids. She spoils them. As she said, she gives them sugar and then they do

Paulette: 20:09

other things

Erik: 20:09

and other things. She, she actually does feed them regular food just for the audience. They know. But at the same time, she gets her fill of fun time with two children who she loves dearly and she has a good time doing it. And then when it's all said and done, she gets to give them back! You're done! And I take them in, probably hungover. That's all good.

Paulette: 20:33

You're hungover.

Erik: 20:34

Yes, I'm hungover.

Paulette: 20:35

To be clear, they are not hungover.

Erik: 20:36

I mean, they're probably hungover from sugar. You're hungover from having to take care of children. I'm hungover from enjoying my time without children. So everybody's

Paulette: 20:47

temporarily childfree

Erik: 20:48

temporarily childfree. Yeah. And listen, if you, if you're a parent who has childfree friends and family, like those people, if they truly love you and they love your children, they will absolutely help you out. And look after your kids when you're not able to, or when you need a break, because parents need a break. Like, we can't be 24/7 all the time. We need to separate ourselves and have our own time, be grown ups, maybe have a day or a night without any, like, major responsibility. It's totally reasonable and human. So the childfree sector, just because they're childfree doesn't mean they hate children. I mean, some, some of y'all do. I mean, I get it, but, but not, but especially family and friends who love you and your kids, they're going to help you out and they're going to watch the kids. And I don't think any, anybody would have a problem with that. So take advantage of it while you can.

Paulette: 21:46

I'm going to jump in here real quick, cause I want to be really clear that my brother is talking about childfree people from his experience. I know that not all childfree people do like kids and not all of them do want to help out with their niblings, you know, their nieces and nephews. I am not one of those people. I do like the kids I'm related to, and it's been fun watching them grow up to become the people that they're becoming. But that's not necessarily true for everyone. So while Erik's experience with those of us who are childfree is that the non-parents his village are willing to help out, that might not be true for other parents. So, for those parents listening, you are not entitled to your childfree brother's or sister's free time just because they don't have kids. And the truth is, I don't think either of my brothers ever asked me to babysit their kids. I was always the one asking them if I could hang out with them. Because I'm invested in those kids having diverse influences around them, including a childfree aunt and uncle who can model what a happy, healthy marriage looks like without kids. And also what a childfree life can look like for them if they choose to go down that path too. Plus, they're really good kids, but that's a direct result of their parenting, which is the best any of us can hope for. And again, that's my experience. It's not like I was out there really changing their diapers every day, I mean, maybe one or two. But when we're around, that's usually adult time, especially when the kids were really little and the kids were taught to respect that. Now that they're a little older and they range in ages from 10 to 22, it's a lot different. In fact, my 16 year old nephew just sent me a text today about Puerto Rican Pokemon and that shit is hilarious and I love it. So if you're listening to this and thinking, fuck no, I don't want my siblings thinking I'm free babysitting, that's fine. Just say so. Know your boundaries and make them clear. This doesn't have to be rude or obnoxious. My brothers and I have always been very clear about our boundaries with each other and you should be clear about yours with yours. Maybe when you're around, it is also adult time. You're the one helping your sibling have the adult conversations, especially when they're sick and tired of hearing Baby Shark or whatever on repeat. Because, like he said, parents need breaks too, yeah. Anyway, I'm about to respond to his comments here, but I wanted to make that super clear for all y'all. I'm also going to refer to an article that blew up about a woman having to pay for her friends', multiple friends', babysitter. I made a reel about it that had a over 70,000 views and 4000 comments before I just cut them off. Cause, ugh! But I'll link both the article and the reel in the show notes. Especially if it's not an expectation, but like an ask, you know? And our relationship was always such that we didn't feel weird asking one another for favors like that. We were open with one another, like I need to borrow money or you need me to take the kids or, you know, something like that. We're family. And I know not everybody has family like that, so, you know, what Erik and I have might be a little bit more unique, but speaking to the larger issue that just because someone doesn't have children, doesn't want children, is childfree, it doesn't mean they hate kids, so that was spot on. And it doesn't mean that they don't want to spend time with your kids. I mean, sometimes they do want adult time with mom and dad because you're right, mom and dad deserve breaks and they should go have adult time.

Erik: 25:25

Damn right.

Paulette: 25:27

But sometimes they can be part of giving you that break. Sure. As long as it was a news article. That's what it was that came from a Reddit post. This woman was expected to cover the babysitting for all her and four friends to go out this one night because she was picking up the bill for everyone. They like would rotate who paid that night. So obviously they were all pretty well off that they could afford to treat five people, four or five people, however many it was. But all these people with kids were married. What I found interesting was the misogyny here, not the fact that they felt entitled to her money to pay for her kids. That was secondary to the fact that the husbands all went out and paid for whatever they did, but did they ask any of their friends to kick in money for the babysitter? Or was it just this lady? Because the moms are responsible for the babysitter.

Erik: 26:25

And that's another thing too, speaking on the whole parenting thing. Like there is this idea that women have their role and men have their role and that Is something that's also bullshit. I get that women can breastfeed and I can't like, that's, that's fine. But it shouldn't be the woman's responsibility to take care of the babysitting because she's the woman. Just like it shouldn't be the man's responsibility to earn the money because he's the man. If you, if you guys are both making money, like, hell, you could afford the trip to Greece, and then you could afford the babysitter. Like, you'll, you'll get them, like, ten bottles of wine, Paulette, everybody wins! But these social norms that everybody tries to, like, jam down your throat, those are all myths. Like, there's nothing true and solid about it, and the people that buy into them, uh, they're just lost, they're ignorant, and they don't, they don't get it. Like, life happens at a rate, at a pace that, isn't dictated by the way it's always been. It's dictated based off of what your situation is and what's best for everyone. That's how it is. So I just wanted to throw that out there.

Paulette: 27:38

I appreciate that, sir.

Erik: 27:39

Absolutely.

Paulette: 27:40

I love you.

Erik: 27:40

I love you too. Te amo mucho en Español.

Paulette: 27:49

You crack me up.

Erik: 27:50

I try.

Paulette: 27:51

So, like I was saying earlier, there were questions that were asked when I made my little inebriated story. One was by your niece asking, did you ask Dale why? So that question was not for you. The other one was by your one brother in law, the only one you have. And he asked, Batman versus Jaws, who wins? This has nothing to do with being childfree!

Erik: 28:17

Well

Paulette: 28:18

Wait, Batman is childfree.

Erik: 28:21

No, he's not. He's not.

Paulette: 28:23

Isn't he?

Erik: 28:23

No. Damian Wayne is Batman's biological son and he is the eventual successor to Robin. So yeah, he is not childfree.

Paulette: 28:33

When, when did that happen? And who's his mom?

Erik: 28:36

Catwoman.

Paulette: 28:37

Is it Batgirl? Catwoman?

Erik: 28:38

Yeah.

Paulette: 28:38

Is he part cat and part bat?

Erik: 28:41

Yes. He flies and coughs on hairballs. Meow. But no. Batman vs. Jaws? I mean, this is a very important question that I think warrants an answer and thorough explanation. See, I think the thing that you have to analyze here is the fact that there is already precedent that Batman is capable of defeating sharks of any kind.

Paulette: 29:05

Even the ones with lasers on their head?

Erik: 29:08

Freakin laser beams, yes! No, the we have precedent in the 1960s Batman movie with Adam West, where he was after the villains, you know, Joker, Penguin, Riddler, all them. They were in a submarine. And so, Batman and Robin are on the Bat copter, and they're on a ladder, and they're coming down towards a submarine. Helicopter goes too low! Batman dips into the water, he comes out of the water, what do you know, there's a shark on his leg! And he's hitting the shark with his bat gloves, and he can't get it off! So what does he do? He reaches into his handy dandy utility belt, gets the bat shark repellent spray that he just happened to have that day, And he sprays. He sprays the shark that is biting his leg, and guess what? The shark lets go, falls into the ocean, and explodes. So when you

Paulette: 30:08

All from a can of spray.

Erik: 30:09

All from a can of aerosol spray. I don't know exactly what was in it, but highly flammable, clearly.

Paulette: 30:14

Something potent.

Erik: 30:15

Yes. So, it's clear, that if Batman were to go up against Jaws, which is a 23 foot great white shark, Jaws would easily be defeated by Batman and his utility belt and his explosive aerosol cans. The end.

Paulette: 30:33

Let me pause for one moment and, and ask the person who gave us this question if he knew any of that.

Erik: 30:41

Okay.

Paulette: 30:43

Hey, Ryan, did you know that there was a Batman versus Shark scene in a movie? He did not know about that.

Erik: 30:53

I am an encyclopedia of Batman things. Not surprised he doesn't know it.

Paulette: 30:57

And shark things.

Erik: 30:58

And shark things. If you guys ever need any information, like if you ever want to start a podcast about Batman and Sharks, I'd be happy to guest as a resident expert.

Paulette: 31:09

Why didn't you start a podcast about Batman and sharks?

Erik: 31:13

Because as much as I love Batman and sharks, I love sports and pop culture more.

Paulette: 31:17

You need to add it into the mix though.

Erik: 31:20

I probably will. I'll probably have a, I'll have a debate with somebody who vehemently disagrees with Batman beating a shark and we'll go on like a two and a half hour argument.

Paulette: 31:33

You'll also be fueled by whiskey probably because you drink whiskey on your podcast, right?

Erik: 31:37

I drink scotch.

Paulette: 31:38

Oh, excuse me. It is the Scottish version of whiskey.

Erik: 31:42

Yes, I know that, but I like, I love scotch. There it goes down, down into my belly.

Paulette: 31:49

One of my favorite things was you as Ron Burgundy talking about MMA on Twitter. How long did you do that?

Erik: 31:56

It was just for one weekend.

Paulette: 31:58

Really?

Erik: 31:59

Well, I, I eventually started it up again, but the reason I started it was because there was a UFC fight happening in San Diego, and I was a credentialed member of the press covering that fight card. So, I took my Twitter account, temporarily changed it to Ron Burgundy MMA, and started tweeting like Ron Burgundy was covering the UFC fights in San Diego. That caught wind. It blew up. I ended up getting thousands of followers on Twitter, which, you know, is hard to do nowadays because it's X. But yeah, it was, it was a moment and I tried starting it up again, but little avail.

Paulette: 32:36

I thought you had a whole separate account.

Erik: 32:38

Eventually I did.

Paulette: 32:40

Are you still on Twitter, x, whatever?

Erik: 32:43

I am, but as, uh, For Meme Not You.

Paulette: 32:46

Oh, so you just share me-mes?

Erik: 32:47

Share me-mes. I share me-mes.

Paulette: 32:49

Can I tell that story?

Erik: 32:50

Absolutely.

Paulette: 32:51

I'm gonna save this for the Substack subscribers. This is gonna go to them. This is not gonna be published, but

Erik: 32:57

Okay.

Paulette: 32:58

The night I met Ryan. If you want to hear the rest of that story get on Substack! I'll release that video and the audio to the subscribers next week, which includes the origin story of Erik becoming a meme making machine. Plus, you'll get all kinds of other bonus content and the opportunity to vote on future episodes. So jump on Substack! It's free! All right, dude, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom, your thoughts on this topic. I appreciate that you are an ally to childfree people. Hey, before we wrap up, tell us about Staches & Glasses, or is it Glasses and Stashes?

Erik: 33:33

It is Staches & Glasses. It's a podcast, the Staches & Glasses podcast. It's me bringing on guests to discuss sports, pop culture, or whatever else tickles the pickle. You could follow ForMemeNotYou, not ForMe-meNotYou, but ForMemeNotYou on all social channels, that's where Staches & Glasses mainly is advertised from. We're also on YouTube under ForMemeNotYou, and we're soon going to have some emails go out for some email marketing, so look out for that stuff. And if you're listening to La Vida Más Chévere, thank you for supporting my sister, she is a wonderful person. And I'm very happy that she's doing this kind of thing, putting herself out there, doing the things that she's passionate about. Cause if you're not pursuing your passions, what are you even doing with yourself?

Paulette: 34:24

So if you ever hear an ad for Staches & Glasses on this program, which you might have at the beginning of this one, if we get our shit together and record our respective promos.

Erik: 34:37

I don't know. Have my people call your people.

Paulette: 34:43

Remember when we could rely on our spouses to do some of the shit?

Erik: 34:47

Yeah, that was always in question until recently.

Paulette: 34:51

2017, Beerocrats, we did it for one year.

Erik: 34:55

We did it for one whole year. Yeah, 12 and a half.

Paulette: 34:58

We drank a lot of beer.

Erik: 34:59

12 and a half views. Yeah, Sundays at my house were

Paulette: 35:04

Pretty awesome. This is how I knew that your kids were different because we'd be over for hours and they'd be quiet the whole freaking time we were recording. They were really respectful of the fact that like we were trying to do something and mommy and daddy were busy. And you guys raised those kids so well.

Erik: 35:23

Thank you.

Paulette: 35:23

Good job.

Erik: 35:24

Thank you.

Paulette: 35:25

Good job.

Erik: 35:26

Thank you.

Paulette: 35:27

I am invested in this.

Erik: 35:28

You are literally you buy them things. It's an investment on the return of happiness.

Paulette: 35:34

So, when Nico turned ten, I bought him Nintendo stock because we are creating generational wealth here.

Erik: 35:40

You know what he said this morning? I dropped him off at school this morning and, you know, there's a line of cars behind me and, like, there's angry parents and they're all in a rush and I gotta move and this kid's, like, taking his sweet time getting out the car and he's just, Hey, dad, can we talk about investing my allowance in Nintendo stock? Cause I have some ideas that I want to, I'm like, get the fuck out of the car. I gotta go. But we'll talk about it later. Yes.

Paulette: 36:07

And absolutely. Yes.

Erik: 36:08

Yes.

Paulette: 36:09

He should branch out, maybe diversify.

Erik: 36:11

Diversify his funds.

Paulette: 36:12

Outside of Nintendo.

Erik: 36:13

His portfolio.

Paulette: 36:14

Look, but I love that he's 10 and he's in the stock market. It's an amazing thing. Well, dude, it's time to say goodbye.

Erik: 36:21

Okay. There it is. It's time to say goodbye. La vida más chévere. That's a burrito!

Paulette: 36:29

Do you got something to say about this week's episode? DM me on Instagram, at pauletteerato. And if you'd like to be a guest on La Vida Más Chévere, check out the guest form on my website, at pauletteerato. com. All of these links are in the show notes. While you're at it, can I ask you a favor? I'd really appreciate your helping spread awareness about the podcast. So could you please share it on your socials or even send it to a friend? New episodes come out every other Tuesday. You can enjoy them with tacos or burritos. Muchísimas gracias for your support y hasta la próxima vez, cuídate bien.