#263 - Interview with author Andy Dietrich

Dave: [: 00:00:00

Andy Dietrich: Should come with like a little teardrop. That's the, the emblem

Dave: God.

Andy Dietrich: the, of the badge, right? Little teardrop next to an eye. Be like sad face.

Dave: Imagine if they did that in the military, bro. They just ran around the ranks and be like, all right, who wants their badges?

Andy Dietrich: I once the extra tears. There you go. Have at it.

Dave: that would be so funny. Nope.

Andy Dietrich: explain to me, please. The, the, the cat that you have in your, uh, in your email signature, there's a picture of you and there's a, there's a cat dude, I assume it's a dude cat on your lap. So please explain the, uh, the significance, 'cause I'm curious.

Dave: Oh, oh, of course. So she does act like a dude. Um,

Andy Dietrich: Okay.

Dave: long as I've owned her, like I, I call her my little lesbian 'cause she,

Andy Dietrich: Hmm.

like a man. She acts like a [: 00:01:00

Andy Dietrich: That's funny.

Dave: Um, a rescue. I've had her. I got her when she was three weeks old. She was abandoned

Andy Dietrich: wow.

Dave: her mom. And, um, I can kind of see why, you know, she's a little bitch, but she's a little sweetheart at the same time.

Andy Dietrich: Yep. Most of 'em are. Yep.

Dave: but, uh, she's always been like, like my

Andy Dietrich: I.

Dave: like. My little champion, you know, like she always pops in during podcast and uh, she's kind of become a little bit of a signature. So I feel like whenever I get like a really good like profile picture or something, she's always in there, somewhere. I'm like, okay.

Andy Dietrich: Perfect. I like it. We, uh, we have karma. He's a, he's a rescue in air quotes as well. Rescued from a friend. A friend was not, let's put this way. Said, friend is good at, at. Things in life, but he's not good at, at caring for living things. Uh, we, we jokingly say that a, a pla, a plastic cactus would die under his care, right?

[: 00:02:00

He is a, a dog in cat's clothing.

Dave: I Hats are okay. I feel like dogs and cats, this is the caveat where people are like, oh, I'm a cat or a dog person.

Andy Dietrich: Mm.

Dave: They have such a diverse ray of personalities that there are dogs that act like cats, okay?

Andy Dietrich: There

Dave: They do nothing. They don't want to be

Andy Dietrich: Nonplused? Yep.

Dave: But then there are cats that are. not just as good as dogs. Like they like to

Andy Dietrich: Yep.

Dave: walks. They, they like their, their bellies rubbed

Andy Dietrich: I.

hink possibly they teach you [: 00:03:00

Andy Dietrich: Fair.

Dave: animals seem to do it. A lot better than us. Like a

Andy Dietrich: Yeah.

Dave: better than us, which

Andy Dietrich: I.

Dave: It's like you can't even fucking talk. You can't even

Andy Dietrich: But, but they can,

Dave: yeah.

Andy Dietrich: but they do. You hear 'em loud and clear. Like whenever Karma yells at something or yells at me or meows at something, I, uh, I, I, I mumbled to myself. I hear you. I hear you. But I, I really don't. Right.

Dave: No,

Andy Dietrich: I,

Dave: I just mimicked the meows

Andy Dietrich: there you go.

Dave: come up in my mind of what they're supposed to sound like and what they're, what they, they're correlating to. idea how, what she's talking

Andy Dietrich: No idea. No. It's like when you tell, tell when you, when you tell your pet, I know, I know you really don't know, but you just tell them, I know it's good enough.

Dave: Just give ai, AI just a couple of years, you know, when they have those AI collars you can buy on the TikTok shop. You know you

Andy Dietrich: My God.

being like, I give you great [: 00:04:00

Andy Dietrich: Isn't there, isn't there a Simpsons episode where Homer's, uh, long lost brother, like invents like the baby collar and you can, or the baby translator and they can hear what the babies are saying? That's how he makes his millions. It was a odd little episode, but that sounds just like what, what you're describing.

Dave: I mean, out of, out of the 800 episodes that the Simpsons has come up with, not surprised at something like that. There's like over 800 episodes. There's, there's gotta

Andy Dietrich: I am sure. Yeah.

Dave: some lunatic came in there and they're like, are you on meth? Yes. Do you have a great story? Yes. All right. You're hired. Come on board. We need stories. It's.

tle situational comments and [: 00:05:00

Yeah. K O'Brien wrote a bunch of those episodes.

Dave: That

Andy Dietrich: Uh, so you have a lot of that humor that goes along with it. And there's one episode, again, way back in the day, one of the earlier seasons where Lisa takes the family to go see some sort of like play or, or. I don't know, some sort of musical bid or whatever, and Homer just wasn't having it at Lisa said something like, Homer, you have to listen to, or she says, dad, you have, you have to listen to the notes that he's not playing.

And Homer said, I can do that at home. I think just the, the silliness of that comment, listen to the notes, he's not playing. I can do that at home.

thing as adult cartoons. You [: 00:06:00

Andy Dietrich: No.

Dave: know, something like that.

Andy Dietrich: Sure.

Dave: then you have the symptoms that came along. And then obviously there's a lot of other shows that came along like this too, where you're just like, okay, I don't think my kids should be watching this. don't

Andy Dietrich: they or they, they, they, uh, they mask the, the adult punchlines in a way that kids don't get it, which actually is win-win, right? Even like the new like Pixar movies and the Disney movies and everything, there's a lot of adult humor in it that they've crafted specifically so that adults can appreciate it, but kids won't catch onto it.

It's actually pretty brilliant end.

Dave: They did that even back in the day, like as an adult, you go back and watch Toy Story, you know, and you're like, oh my God. 'cause there's

Andy Dietrich: Hmm.

Dave: innuendos throughout the

Andy Dietrich: Sure.

and it's like, it came out in: 1994

Andy Dietrich: Mm-hmm.

Dave: come on, on, on.

Andy Dietrich: I mean.

Dave: It's like, put it in there on purpose. You know that they did. They're like, no kid's gonna figure this out. But an adult can.

Andy Dietrich: A bunch of pers up there and, and, and the, the animation studios win-win.

Dave: Imagine somebody had to edit that shit, you know,

Andy Dietrich: Mm-hmm.

Dave: and I remember back in the day, like internet was slow and it took a long time and just somebody's just like editing the shine on the ceramic figurine. That's definitely didn't sexualized for. Kids,

Andy Dietrich: Oh my god.

Dave: there's so many others, I look like, I, I think that's kind of the magic that came with a lot of these cartoons.

f ended, I think we would be [: 00:08:00

Andy Dietrich: Yeah.

Dave: There really is no reason to continue it. I mean,

Andy Dietrich: Yeah.

Dave: they want to.

Andy Dietrich: There, there, there comes a point in every show's law. Life where you can tell that they're just trying to squeeze more out of it. They're trying to make it the cash cow that it's been. And some shows suffer horrendously bad from it. Um, you know, my favorites like community, community was a great, great, great show.

It only needed one through four seasons, right? It didn't have to do, you know, season five and six. Uh, arrested Development, right? One of my all time favorite shows, seasons went through three. They could have left it at a high note, but then like 15 years later, they tried squeezing

Dave: dead.

Andy Dietrich: four and five out of it.

Walking Dead is a perfect example of that too. Lost. Now. Lost also suffered from the writer's strike, uh, right by Game of Thrones, right? There's a couple different shows that. Really could have just ended on a high note. Even had you been left on a cliffhanger, you still like Chappelle show? Chappelle Show did it perfectly.

est of high notes and it was [: 00:09:00

Dave: Yeah, I mean then there's also like shows like even in the nineties, like friends for example, which had 10 seasons. the issue is, is that like. It starts off where it's kind of fun and organic and kind of unrealistic. 'cause obviously like I'm from New York, that's not, no one really in New York lives like that.

Andy Dietrich: Okay.

Dave: But then it kind of comes, becomes very, very serious. And then when you start watching towards the end, you're like, is this a sitcom? Is this a drama series?

Andy Dietrich: Hmm.

Dave: Is this, you can't really call it a sitcom towards like the last four seasons.

Andy Dietrich: Hmm.

w what the actual formula to [: 00:10:00

Andy Dietrich: Sure. I agree with that. Also, I think that shows like friends shows like How I Met Your Mother, you have to run, you have to walk this really, really fine, uh, balance of having character development where people naturally and organically grow with the seasons, but you also can't have them grow too much to where they're now alienating.

y intelligent and meaningful [: 00:11:00

Dave: I just think that what we kind of forget is a lot of the times, in order to make these things possible, you need to have really people that can think outside of the box,

Andy Dietrich: Mm

Dave: know? And it goes as far as it goes, that makes sense.

Andy Dietrich: mm

Dave: obviously there's been modern pioneers of this kind of stuff, like, you know, the creator of Rick and Morty.

Andy Dietrich: Right.

Dave: he's gone for obvious reasons. I'm not gonna get into that. 'cause that's that,

Andy Dietrich: If you know, you know, right.

Dave: know, and now it's like, what are

Andy Dietrich: I.

cally forcing a narrative by [: 00:12:00

Andy Dietrich: For the sake of more seasons. Sure,

Dave: You know, it's. is that fair? I get it.

Andy Dietrich: yeah.

Dave: money marketing, all right, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I hear that story every fucking day.

Andy Dietrich: Yeah.

Dave: Where's the caveat to that? Where's the other

Andy Dietrich: Right.

Dave: that? Where's this

Andy Dietrich: Yeah.

Dave: You know? 'cause that's not a long, long stretch. Like it's not an actual path to, to an. It's surviving long, you know, it's just like a short term, like burst, whatever I'm wording right now. But you get my

Andy Dietrich: You're fine. I got you. I got you. I think that's one thing that say Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul did really, really, really, really well is that the storyline was laid out from, from the get go. So there wasn't any situation where the writers wrote themselves into a corner. Like for example with Lost Lost, if you watch it, great first couple seasons completely fell apart towards the end.

h, with the like next couple [: 00:13:00

But if you don't have that foreshadowing. Or rather if you don't know how many seasons it'll run, God forbid they told him, uh, was it, uh, whatever his name was, the guy who Vince Gilligan, uh, they told him, Hey, let's do two more seasons of Breaking Bad. No, you can't. It has to end at the end of this particular season because that's where the story ends.

You can't just squeeze more out of it for the sake of the sake of making a, you know, a cash cow. It doesn't work for shows like that.

Dave: No. And as I think bringing a better call, Saul is a great example of this. We knew that Saul Goodman was a piece of shit. And even like in the beginning of seasons where you kind of see he's a good guy and whatever, you know, and the trauma that he goes through. But

Andy Dietrich: Mm

Breaking Bad does start, you [: 00:14:00

Andy Dietrich: sure.

Dave: you're like, okay, obviously he's an asshole, obviously he's a piece of shit for very obvious reasons. You know, he threw himself into the mob and he got himself caught and now he's like. The guy,

Andy Dietrich: Yeah.

Dave: but that's something that I kind of appreciate too, is where you're not only having story development, but you have story progression.

Andy Dietrich: Mm-hmm.

Dave: It fits the narrative. Narrative. It makes sense. It's

Andy Dietrich: Right.

Dave: like you thought about the original story the whole entire time. You're like, that's kind of cool that I kind of got to know that. You know, like

Andy Dietrich: Yeah.

Dave: of puts all. But then there's series and like writers that just go the whole other goddamn direction and you just sit there and you're like, why did you waste my life for this?

tkin Skywalker turn to Darth [: 00:15:00

Dave: I.

Andy Dietrich: I,

Dave: I had a last guest that was on, and I had jaja being stuck in my head for like the last

Andy Dietrich: my God.

Dave: minutes of the, you know what? This is the one thing future. If you're listening to this episode, do yourselves a favor, destroy single artifact of Jaja bs. Okay? it out to space, send it to Venus, send it to the freaking son.

I don't care. This is my message to you. Remove it completely from our memory. Like why? Why is he still a thing? Like it's bad enough that you gave us that crap back in the early two thousands and then you make a TV series about it. How dare you.

Andy Dietrich: Be Smirch, the good name of Star Horse

gone wrong on a CG monitor. [: 00:16:00

Andy Dietrich: too much.

Dave: too much.

Andy Dietrich: But anyway,

Dave: No, but I, I,

Andy Dietrich: I.

Dave: like, we both know that a lot of these that originally, like for example, obviously like age difference, but when we were growing up, they were still, you know, part of like the nerdy and the geek sector. You know, there were people that like, kind of knew more than you knew, it kind of had that like niche to it. Now it's just amusement parks and, I don't know, Airbnb themed places you could travel to. I, I, I don't know any other way of putting it.

Andy Dietrich: Well, we, we, we love our capitalistic way, don't we? Right. That's all, that's the, the foundation of all this stuff. If it makes money, then it's a good thing.

Dave: Uh, is where does it go? I.

Uh, you know, the, the ultra [: 00:17:00

Right. On the other hand, at least in America, on the other hand, once you make your million dollars, you've made it, you have accomplished that, that one thing that everyone strive to do. So on one hand, yes, we, we demonize them. On the other hand, when someone makes it, we're like, good for you. Good for you.

You've made it.

Dave: There are. is a point though, because demonizing people, because they're successful, get any, any, anything, anywhere. I mean, obviously like, yeah, there are pros and cons that come with capitalism. But I don't think something that really is incredible about that is when you do have those people that are successful, they're not all pieces of shit.

You know, I mentioned this before, we're talking about films and TV series. Two great examples is Quinn Tarantino and Wes Anderson, both extremely wealthy, very powerful people. But guess what?

Andy Dietrich: Yep.

ay. Obviously you have those [: 00:18:00

Andy Dietrich: Yeah.

Dave: assholes.

Andy Dietrich: Yeah.

Dave: just really wealthy and very, very famous, and a lot of people know

Andy Dietrich: There you go. Right.

Dave: That's it.

Andy Dietrich: they're still a bit humble about it too. I mean, we have, there are plenty of examples, right? Uh, Keanu Reeves is like the, the poster child of that, where it's like, yeah, he's rich and famous, but he is still a down to earth dude, which I, I know they're not all, you know. Assholes when they become rich.

But a lot of times when you become, when you turn into that, that comes with it. Right? But there is still some left that are, that are not like that, which is great to hear.

Dave: [: 00:19:00

It doesn't make you more successful in life. It doesn't make you a better person. All it does is just give you a tool that gives you more access to things.

Andy Dietrich: Mm-hmm.

Dave: I think that gets a lot of times lost in translation.

Andy Dietrich: Well, once I make my, once I become rich and famous, I'll remember, I'll remember all the peasants. Right. That's my promise.

Dave: No, but you know, sad because I think that that's where things kind of get lost in the weaves a lot of the

Andy Dietrich: Yeah.

ked this before, because one [: 00:20:00

Andy Dietrich: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Dave: They're all so passionate and they're so thankful

Andy Dietrich: Mm-hmm.

Dave: to spend time with their family and their friends and maybe just have that random time, you know, where they just go out to the beach altogether and just appreciate those small little wins, you know? And if you do get that large success, that's great, but that's not, it's not the main story here.

I could be wrong. You could tell me, I could be wrong, but I don't think so. No, I'm serious. Like, what do you what? What's your thoughts on that?

dividuals. We're still human [: 00:21:00

Right. I've, I. Worked with a lot of really, really great veterans. I've worked with a lot of shit bird veterans, so just because you are a veteran does not make you a good or bad employee. I will, however, say one thing I have noticed about veterans as a whole, not always, but as a whole, is that when you work with veterans and you're a veteran yourself, it is much easier to get the the idea across of, Hey, look, I may be an analyst, you may be a director, but I need to get stuff done.

I can go talk to you and say, Hey. Director, so and so, I need you to hunker down and get this done for me because I'm on a deadline and I need you to put everything aside and get this figured out. Do it. Maybe not in those words. Right. But I have, I, my experience has been that people who are veterans have a much easier time taking direction and orders from people, whether they are higher or lower on the chain of command.

Um, it's just easier to work with them sometimes because they know what it means to hunker down and figure it out and get it done.

sn't, it doesn't necessarily [: 00:22:00

Andy Dietrich: Sure.

Dave: It warps your vision and idea of what is actually possible for yourself. You know, you don't. Have to realize in that second that you're not seeing the whole picture.

You're just

Andy Dietrich: Yeah,

Dave: side. 'cause they're recording what they want you to record. They're not

Andy Dietrich: sure,

Dave: you, you, you know, the actual reality that's going on. Let's be

chine. Great. How much money [: 00:23:00

Sure, it may happen, the 0.001% chance that might happen. Sure, of course. But that's not how things work. Right? Those wins cost you just like those Instagram pictures cost you, you may, you know, come back. With, with phenomenal pictures from a great trip you took to, was it Santorini in Greece? Right? And you may love it because the pictures show just the most idealized version of yourself, but guess what?

It costs Money. Traveling is exhausting. You may have had some, some heartbreak, you know, until you get to that point where you want to take that trip, right? Those pictures come at a cost. Those stories come at a cost. Nothing is free, right? Even death will cost your life. So all those, they're not, they're not just.

They're just little encapsulated, you know, idealized versions of, of one little snapshot of people's lives. Those aren't reality.

end to forget is you do have [: 00:24:00

Andy Dietrich: Hmm.

Dave: I, I've met a

Andy Dietrich: I.

Dave: poker player and this is somebody that a, has investment. they're not just somebody that is just walking paycheck to paycheck. They already have money put away.

They have

Andy Dietrich: Right.

Dave: and they can walk into a poker room and know exactly which tables they should be sitting on. They know how to calculate of how much money they should be putting at each table. This is something that's a professional. They've been doing this for like five, 10, sometimes 30 years. You can't, you can't just say, you know what I, I hear this professional poker player, I'm gonna take his advice and I'm gonna go to that poker table. Guaranteed you're gonna lose, because he

Andy Dietrich: Sure.

Dave: all those skills baked in his head. He knows when he

Andy Dietrich: Yeah.

Dave: the table, if he's gonna see a flush in forehand, he knows already.

players. You're not playing [: 00:25:00

Um, I play poker. I'm not a particularly good player, but I enjoy doing it. But I also know when to quit, right? So I put my, put my money down, my buy-in. And then I'm done. Like once I, once I get knocked out, I walk home because I know my limits. I'll get away from it. But you can easily, you know, stuff as much money as you want to in it.

But I think also comes with a discipline of saying when enough is enough and that that whole, oh, I'm gonna chase it. Just like if you're played video poker, right? You put money in the machine, you are up, say 50 bucks, and then you're down again. But once you're up, when you're up, you walk away. When you double your money, you walk away.

That's the number one lesson that no one ever seems to follow. And they tell themselves, well, I did it once. I can do it again.

Dave: you can't.

Andy Dietrich: That's a, that's a horrendously way, horrendously bad way of looking at it. When you're up, you walk away.

go, and I asked him, I said, [: 00:26:00

Andy Dietrich: Counting. Yeah. Counting. What I,

Dave: said that.

Andy Dietrich: I'm curious.

Dave: You have to be the person where you have to think

Andy Dietrich: I.

Dave: the gambling house itself, where there's that one schnuck that comes and sits there by the table and thinks that they know everything and they start throwing out and they're losing, and then they, they get up and then they lose and they get up. He said, if you notice very carefully, they know that he's losing, so they're winning money. So they're making sure that as long as he keeps playing on that table, they

Andy Dietrich: Mm-hmm.

Dave: going. He said, the chances of you winning. You have to be prepared. You're losing money before you're making anything.

Andy Dietrich: Of course.

Dave: you're okay with doing that, he says, you're fine winning.

Andy Dietrich: Yeah.

ere and you're putting money [: 00:27:00

Andy Dietrich: Mm-hmm.

Dave: which is rare. If you could get there, good luck. Don't get addicted, but it, it can eat up your life. You know?

Andy Dietrich: Oh yeah.

Dave: hours go by, 20 hours go by. Who's counting

Andy Dietrich: If you, if you're come to, yeah, if you come to Vegas and you go to those casinos, which are open, most of 'em are open 24 7. You walk in on a Tuesday morning at, at 8:00 AM you know, a lot of people, not a lot, but there's always gonna be someone at that video poker, pressing the little button. A lot of times it's retirees that, that's the highlight of their day.

They take their retirement check and they get to go to the, you know, to the casino that, that one morning and they get to gamble away their $70, whatever it is. There's always gonna be those zombies that, that just sit there. And that's, again, that's the highlight of their day. It's, to me, it's sad to them.

hope not, but I don't know. [: 00:28:00

Dave: I think, um, I know we're, I know we've been talking about gambling, but I, I've been contemplating about this already for a while, and I think what a lot of the times happens is, especially when people get older, there's been this disillusionment that ex, that exists in this country, which is you work your ass off for a job.

Andy Dietrich: Hmm.

from there. Maybe do hobbies [: 00:29:00

Andy Dietrich: Mm-hmm.

Dave: eventually as they get older, either slow down, they have money put away, they have investments, they have things of that nature. They may be able to explore other avenues as they get older. I've seen this, especially with writers. You have a lot of older writers that they're very successful from their previous careers, and then now they're pursuing something else, and they're some of the sweetest people you'll ever meet. they're in their seventies, they're in their late sixties, some of 'em are in their eighties, and they just, they love life.

Andy Dietrich: Hmm

Dave: Life hasn't been taken away from them because that's what

Andy Dietrich: hmm.

Dave: That's what you see in those casinos, unfortunately, is those people that their lives have been taken away from them.

Andy Dietrich: Yeah, it's valid, right? You see those people, those zombies, and it's like, I. I only, I, I look at them away of, in my opinion, they have that, the look on their faces of, I'm just waiting for the day that I die. Right? They're just waiting for that next part. I'm like, that's, to me, that's, that's pitiful.

nder a lot of the times, the [: 00:30:00

l like also, especially like [: 00:31:00

Andy Dietrich: I agree with that.

Dave: Yeah.

Andy Dietrich: A lot of shower thoughts, PG rated.

years old. [: 00:32:00

Andy Dietrich: Hmm. Hmm.

Dave: But yeah. Um, I, I, I mean at this point, man, um, if you feel more comfortable with, we can get into talking about your book.

Andy Dietrich: Yeah, we can pivot a little bit. We've first talked about everything and nothing for, for a little while.

Dave: mm-hmm.

Andy Dietrich: I. For sure. Um, well, do I just start, uh, monologuing or do you got some, uh,

Dave: No, I mean, uh.

Andy Dietrich: some things to tee it off with?

ocess of where they started. [: 00:33:00

'cause we have great ideas in our minds. Sometimes we forget to put it down on paper.

Andy Dietrich: Yeah, I, I feel like everyone, maybe not everyone, but I think almost everyone has that one thing in their mind that they want to accomplish, whether it be. You know, painting that one painting or writing their one manuscript or, or carving that one piece out of wood, right? Everyone has that or make that one piece of classical music.

I think everyone has this creative, um, project in their minds that they tell themselves one day all get that done. One day I'll work towards it, and when it's done, it's gonna be grand. Um, and I feel like a lot of people. Just don't ever even take the first step towards it. It's, it's great being in an idea.

lt like, you know, as, as I, [: 00:34:00

Uh, on pages to publish it. Um, my, one of my biggest fears or worries rather of, of the process was, well, once I, you know, brain dump and word vomit, everything on through paper that only have say 50 pages, well, 50 pages does not make a book. Right? But then once I passed the, the 100 page threshold, I told myself, Hey, maybe there is something.

Um, so over the course of the last couple of years as I would retell my stories, um, I would make a little note on my phone and be like, Hey, that's a good one. 'cause you can't just think of 'em as you sit down and, and try to, you know, recount all your, all your little stories. But as I would tell my friends, uh, said stories, I'd be like, Hey, maybe put that topic onto my phone so I can actually write it out when I have some time to myself.

, really culminates. Uh, uh, [: 00:35:00

Uh, there is, there is an homage to some friends who are no longer here. Um, there is just a lot of everything in it right there. The, it's broken down into two halves. The first half is me and my silly stories, and it's literally called, uh, the first part is called silly stories, the things I've gotten myself into and out of, usually due to my big mouth.

Um, and then the second half, like I said, is a little more introspective. Um, that is a little more somber tone, a little more serious, uh, in, in the writing. Um, I, I have, I share some unpopular opinions. For example, one of the unpopular opinions that I share is. Uh, about cheating. I have been on the giving and the receiving end of cheating.

take full responsibility for [: 00:36:00

Uh, fulfill some need that their partner had to the point where set partner then went off and found it elsewhere. Again, not to say it's their fault, but I think there is a little bit amount of ownership that the other person needs to take as well as part of the, uh, you know, of the whole enchilada. So anyway, I rant about a bunch of other things in the second half.

Ran about, say the credit card system, uh, sorry, the credit system, not the credit card system. Um, but just a bunch of just me having my shower thoughts in, in a, in a, uh, you know, somewhat intelligent way that I can convey to, to the listener, to the reader, rather. Um, yeah, just a combination of, of my life experiences, my stories, my silliness, some introspective moments, some practical life advice.

And, um, [: 00:37:00

Dave: It's funny 'cause I feel like all of us have, uh, one of those books lying around, but they're not on, actually on physical paper

Andy Dietrich: Mm-hmm.

Dave: shape or form. But it, it's kind of ironic because we do tend to run into those situations and scenarios. Where it's a, what the fuck moment? That's what I call it. It's a what the fuck moment.

You're literally standing there and this

Andy Dietrich: Many of those. Yep.

Dave: and you're just like, how did I get here? Why am I here? You know, and what are you supposed to do? Instead of like, Hey, what I'm, I'm gonna, I'm gonna tell you this and you're gonna read it and you're gonna be like, oh shit, this, this man went through hell

Andy Dietrich: Well,

Dave: and.

finitely don't think that I, [: 00:38:00

So I've been through my fair share of hardship, but this is not comp comparable to someone who's, you know, has been, you know, homeless, right? So I make sure that I frame it in such a way of, these are my first world problems, my white privilege problems that I, that I, you know, encounter in and, and chronicle.

Dave: No.

xample, in some cases like a [: 00:39:00

You know, you're telling you feel and how you express about the situation and how your emotions that are going through. I think

Andy Dietrich: Right.

Dave: I think every single person goes through their own levels of trauma and pain in their own way. I would probably see, you know what, this is gonna be kind of hilarious.

Um, it kind of reminds me of like, you know, like Wingstop, right? You have all the different

Andy Dietrich: Okay.

Dave: of sauces you could put on, and some people will hate 'em and some people will love them. That's kind of how like experiences, our life scenarios and our situations are, it's kind of like Wingstop and there's sauce options.

Andy Dietrich: I like Wingstop. Okay. I like it. Life is kinda like Wingstop. I like it there.

Dave: kinda like Wingstop.

lt your, your card or rather [: 00:40:00

There are certain actions you can take. You can either hit or stand, you can even surrender and split right, that kind of stuff. But really you have two options. You can either stand on the, with the hand you have, or hit to get another card. Now, sometimes if you've played blackjack, you know this, sometimes there are some hands you cannot win.

The dealer, the house has already had, already has a a, a hand that'll beat yours. And whether you hit or you stand, you will lose that hand. And I think there is a valuable like life lesson to be, to be learned here. Where there are certain instances, there are certain situations that you cannot win no matter what you do.

Some situations you will not come out on top. Only thing you can do is take the, take the loss, take the knee, and then try again next time.

Dave: Yeah, you know what? We forget that a lot of things are a gamble because nothing that you do in life comes without consequences

Andy Dietrich: That's true.

gonna say, it goes even with [: 00:41:00

Andy Dietrich: I.

Dave: you feel is solid. You feel like it's gonna last forever. Nope. That's a consequence. You realize afterwards, either an imbalance, you know you're not compatible or something goes wrong and you see how the other side interacts. And it doesn't make every other relationship bad. It just means that in that situation, based on the

Andy Dietrich: Sure.

Dave: based on the gamble, that's the end result.

Just like the hand from

Andy Dietrich: Sure.

Dave: table.

Andy Dietrich: I, I agree with that. Um, I'll also say

Dave: Yeah.

Andy Dietrich: I, I agree with that. I'll also say that, you know, for me anyway, I can't speak for anybody else, but for me, when I look back on my past relationships and they, you know, in one way or another, they just didn't work out right, because of, of reasons, if those didn't work out due to my action, right?

n that, or I didn't do that. [: 00:42:00

You're now smarter, wiser, and you probably wouldn't do the things that you did in those immature relationships.

Dave: Yeah, and I think also that's what ties in also with story progression.

Andy Dietrich: Hmm.

Dave: not where the story starts or where the story ends, it's all of the pieces intertwined between those

Andy Dietrich: Hmm.

ork on or develop better at, [: 00:43:00

Andy Dietrich: Yeah.

Dave: being able to communicate properly with other people.

Andy Dietrich: I agree with that. I think there's a lot of value in that as well. Um, I wrote, I, I read a book recently, it's called Replay, that I really, really think there's a lot of, there's a lot of good to be taken away from that. Basically the synopsis is a dude, uh, who has lived in the. Like, like eighties, seventies, eighties, whatever it is.

At 64, he, he dies of a heart attack. That's how the movie, that's how the, the movie, that's how the book starts. He's 64 years old, heart attack, dead, and then he wakes up. He comes to being his 18-year-old self again. And the world just keeps on ticking like it has been. The world unfolded just the way he did the first time around, but he's pretty much reliving his life on a replay.

ws who's gonna win the World [: 00:44:00

Kinda like Groundhog Day, but on steroids. Um, but as I, as I got done reading it, I thought to myself, you know, what are some of the things that I would do differently? If there's any things, if there are any things I would do differently? And I think it's a interesting. What if, you know, mental, you know, game, I guess you'd call it to say, well, you know, if I didn't make that choice, if I didn't choose to join the military, if I didn't choose to, you know, uh, move to Vegas afterwards, if I didn't choose to go to college at this age, where would my life have ended up?

Would I still be, you know, uh, you know, obviously with the knowledge you have today, it's a little bit different. But what if you redid that life? And you didn't make those choices, right? Where would you be? Just that, that kind of, what if game is, is very interesting to play now, I would recommend you don't get lost in it.

Right? It's, it's easy to,

Dave: yes.

Andy Dietrich: to visit, but not to not to stay. Right? You can visit those thoughts, but don't stay in them.

e they, they, they can haunt [: 00:45:00

Andy Dietrich: I.

Dave: You don't always see where you're going to be in those, those situations that you run

Andy Dietrich: Right.

Dave: And I could tell you honestly, even from my own experience, like you, as time progresses and you start seeing more and more pieces of the puzzle coming together, you, you're like, okay, this makes sense now.

Now I understand why I'm here, why I'm going to this place, why I'm pursuing this, why am I going this direction? All of those things tie in, but I think really needs to be nailed down is you have to be patient with yourself. You, you can't just flick a switch or it to happen instantaneously.

It, it's not how human beings work.

Andy Dietrich: be nice, wouldn't it?

Dave: be nice,

filling with computers ever [: 00:46:00

Basically just like one big, uh, uh, like, uh, supply chain management game where you, you know, build tracks for railroads. And anyway, it doesn't mean it matter. It's an economic space. Something like that. You, you, you basically work up your eco, your economy and you make money so you can build more economies, you make more money.

Right? And that was all, that was the whole, the whole story or that was the, the game loop. Right? You start with nothing. You build yourself up to then build bigger and better things to make more money. Well, being a kid. Yeah, exactly, exactly. So being a kid, you know, and, and trying to use and abuse the, the system, there's ways you can use a hex editor to, to change values in, in, in applications and games.

funds to start the game off [: 00:47:00

And I think life has something similar where it's like, sure, you can press the, if there were an easy mode button, would you want to press it? Because Sure. It'd be great to wake up one day and have a $2 billion balance in your checking in your checking account. Great. But I think all the, all the fun of, of the challenge of life gets sucked out along with it.

And it's, it's like, great, you now have everything that you want. And I would, I would bet, I would bet that that life would be exciting, get extremely boring. I.

easy. You become bored with [: 00:48:00

Andy Dietrich: Meaningless.

Dave: have any challenges to it.

Andy Dietrich: Absolutely.

Dave: gonna be straight up, this is one thing I learned even from myself because of my background and my upbringing. I'm in a romantic relationship with somebody, and if they come from a very cushy background, you know,

Andy Dietrich: Mm-hmm.

Dave: class, pretty wealthy. They have like no understanding of struggle.

I, I

Andy Dietrich: Sure.

Dave: difficult time relating, I, I, it's

Andy Dietrich: Yeah.

Dave: with that person. It's just my mind and their mind can't, we're not compatible. It's just not

Andy Dietrich: Sure. Different wavelengths.

Dave: correct, yes.

Andy Dietrich: Yeah. And to your point, it's not their fault, right? They didn't choose to be brought up in that, in that, uh, household with, you know, the opportunities that they had. It's nothing wrong with them or their upbringing, it's just that, hey, look, you come from a different, I don't know, walk of life.

Different set of beliefs, right? Different set of values. And it's just not always compatible with people who are, are not from that.

Dave: [: 00:49:00

Andy Dietrich: No. You don't think so? I.

Dave: think that we can sit across a table, all sorts of people, and even if you have those incompatibilities and those differences and still get points across,

Andy Dietrich: Mm-hmm.

Dave: all in all, as human beings to fully understand another person. No.

Andy Dietrich: I, I think there needs to be some struggle, right? To understand what that person is about. There needs to be a little bit of struggle. If nothing, if, if life has been nothing but a cakewalk. Then, I don't know. I, I'm sure there's still value in that, but I think there is, there's something that gets lost in then the human experience.

If everything is easy,

Dave: Yeah, and you honestly, you could see that too. I mean, we mentioned this earlier, like you take a character like Wes Anderson,

Andy Dietrich: I.

way that he makes his film. [: 00:50:00

Andy Dietrich: Mm-hmm.

Dave: That's, you know, a lot of times, you know, he has his movies that hit a lot of times they don't wanna hit. But you could see that yearning out of somebody, like in your case, where you can even edit and update that game and put in where you have that unlimited fund, like you have that unlimited cushion. How do you now make life exciting when you have that?

Andy Dietrich: Exactly, exactly what's the next step? Right? What makes it interesting? What, what makes it entertaining? And to the, to finish up that story about the game. Once I gave myself the, the $2 billion credits to start with. Became so boring. I, I put it down, I couldn't play it again. Like it just became so, so mindlessly numbing.

So mind numbingly, uh, uh, draft that, there's just no point to it.

I.

Dave: You wonder though, [: 00:51:00

I can try to build that self, build that for myself. Not worry. What happens around me is that I personally feel like that's the best way to, to manage, because then you don't have to worry about anything else. So if people are like, oh my God, this is happening over here, I don't care. I'm living in my own world. You know, if that happens in my, my circle, that's great. If it's not, I don't, I'm not really interested.

es there is, there is, there [: 00:52:00

Right. And sometimes I feel like people that choose not to know or choose not to be involved. You live in their own little bubble and there's nothing wrong with that. But sometimes I wish I can just not care and, and kind of just live in my own bubble too. And just enjoy the things that are within, you know, the 10 feet of, of around me.

And that's it.

Dave: You don't need to. Be heightened or weird, you know, you don't have to be overeducated, you just need to be educated enough,

Andy Dietrich: Hmm.

Dave: and I, I, I think being able to get that sweet balance of interaction, something new, exploring

Andy Dietrich: Yeah. Yeah.

Dave: that goes so much further. Like, I know you live in Las Vegas, but this is something that even gets lost.

just keep on going to that. [: 00:53:00

Andy Dietrich: Hmm.

Dave: That exists in practically every single place. It's because make it. It's not the other way

Andy Dietrich: Yeah, that's true. There is, there is no, there is no fear of missing out. If, if you, if you live your life the way you want to, right? There is nothing you're missing out on because you're happy with what you have and what you're, what you bring to the table for yourself.

Dave: Yeah. You know what? There, there's no, I'm, I'm, we can end off on this, but there's no

Andy Dietrich: I.

Dave: key that says or rule that's, that's etched into somebody's fucking skin. It states, oh, you know, you gotta get to the next step in order so you can get that, you know, like the big house, you know,

Andy Dietrich: Right, right,

Dave: like the BMW, in my case,

Andy Dietrich: right, right.

Dave: them, so I'm okay with that.

Like, I don't need one.

ings that you're supposed to [: 00:54:00

Dave: Yes. It's like you don't, it'd be nice, but you know what,

Andy Dietrich: I.

Dave: sure there's other things that you can work towards. You know,

Andy Dietrich: Sure.

Dave: into the partner, that's great. You eventually want, kids worry about when that happens. You know, once you get down there, you're like, oh my God, what about the house? Worry about it when you get down there, you know, to, you don't need to watch all those realtors showing you houses on Instagram. We both

Andy Dietrich: No you don't.

Dave: you more

Andy Dietrich: No, you don't. That's right. I agree. Be happy with what you have. Right.

Dave: Um, so Andy, what I wanted to wrap up with, we

Andy Dietrich: Yeah,

Dave: bit about your book. We, we got into a lot of deep thinking over here. I think we went a little deep, a little deeper than deep, but

kind of went from one topic [: 00:55:00

Dave: Kind of like, kind of like little stories happening in one one hour ses.

Andy Dietrich: Yeah.

Dave: Yeah.

Andy Dietrich: Yeah, I like that.

Dave: Um, I know that you have a book, you've got your social media, um, your book is on Amazon. me through, um, where can these people find your stuff? 'cause you've got,

Andy Dietrich: absolutely.

Dave: got a whole, whole story.

Andy Dietrich: I got a couple of things. So easiest way to get ahold of it. If you go to andy's book.com, one word, andy's book.com, there's a picture of me holding it up. There's a picture or rather there's a link, how to get it on Amazon. However, uh, for your listeners here, if you go to andy's book.com/gift punch in your information, I have a few left.

I'm more than happy to send you a signed copy.

mean, come on, you know, you [: 00:56:00

Andy Dietrich: There you go. And with a signature be worth even less. Right?

Dave: Um, but it means

Andy Dietrich: Joking. That's right.

Dave: uh, definitely I, I, I like, I think especially after like talking to you for an hour, if anybody's like. What could Andy possibly put in his book? promise you it's a lot more exciting than this podcast. Okay. gotta read it to

Andy Dietrich: Now, now give yourself a little bit more credit than that. It was a good talk. Okay. It was a good talk. We touch on a lot of good things here.

Dave: did.

Andy Dietrich: but to your point, uh, the book is 160 pages with of my thoughts and my silliness and my shenanigans. So if, if any of what I, I said in the last hour or so has tickled you, then I think you'll enjoy the rest of it too.

Dave: Oh yes. you have, um, do you have an audio version of this book or not yet?

, if and when it gets to the [: 00:57:00

I'm more than happy to, to go down that path, but not. At the size that the, the audience as is today. Maybe in six months, 12 months when there's enough drive and enough momentum and there's actually like a market for it, great. But I would hate to put in all that work and effort for it to then just sit there stale.

Right? That's, that's not a good use of my time.

Dave: Well you know what though? That is something to look forward to, you know, especially like for the next step. I honestly, know what? You get the whole school experience, you know, you get to. Get the person sitting on the subway hearing that the next stop is, you know, while you're reading the book. And you know what, pop on the headphones put on noise cancellations. So you could focus, but

s. I will will guarantee you [: 00:58:00

Dave: Um, and you do, you do also have social media, right?

Andy Dietrich: I.

do now. Those are for my own personal social media. There's nothing I have yet for the book specifically, so I'm, I'm hesitant to give out my personal, um, if you really wanna get ahold of me, there's a contact button on the website. Um, there's even there, there's a lot of ways you can get ahold of me. I'm not a, I'm not an unknown entity online.

Um, but again, there's nothing that is specifically tied to the book yet that's a work in progress. Um, so the time being, we'll leave it at that.

Dave: Okay. Yeah, and I mean, um. I'll leave all the links and everything below. And like you said, I'll leave also the contact information if somebody wants to reach out to you.

Andy Dietrich: Great.

Dave: And, uh, yeah. Listen

Andy Dietrich: Yeah,

Dave: you so much for coming on and

Andy Dietrich: Dave, thanks for having me.

Dave: Of

Andy Dietrich: Yeah,

Dave: And,

Andy Dietrich: had a good time talking to you.

Dave: oh. Yes. And come on. You know, we, I think we, we talk a few people about gambling.

Be a little more careful. You know can make.

Andy Dietrich: Life lessons. [: 00:59:00

Dave: Well, uh, anybody out there, if you want to check out more of the podcast, you can find us at Lost in the Groove Pod. Um, we are on Rumble and stop sex. So with that catch you on the next episode. Alright, motherfuckers, peace out.