RideShare RoadTalk: Conversations In Motion

My Bourbon Swilling Lesbian Friend

Foundation Digital Media Episode 33

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0:00 | 20:46

The ride begins with a clean car, an open window, and a quick laugh about the lingering scent of the passenger's last ride—then slowly opens into something deeper. 

Some social chemistry can make the city feel alive. By the time we pull up, we’ve figured out a pretty solid way to move through the world—curious, kind, and open. If you’re into bourbon, DC restaurants, immigrant food stories, or the simple joy of a good conversation, this one’s for you. Tap follow, share, and drop a quick review!

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About: Foundation Digital Media | Kuna Video

Rolling Into DC And Vibes

SPEAKER_00

Welcome to another episode of Rideshare Road Talk, Conversations in Motion, a podcast where we create unfiltered talkspace that examines the meaningful lives of my passengers while engaging in personal and topical discussions. I'm your host and driver, John Fondis, and we're cruising the streets of Washington, D.C. Buckle up. Let's drive. How are you?

SPEAKER_01

I'm good, man.

SPEAKER_00

Good, good, good. You know?

SPEAKER_02

And it smells decent. Oh my god. Okay, the last car I had smelled like cigarettes. And you know when you leave clothes out too long? And it gets that moldy smell in the washer? You know what I'm talking about. People people have that odor. Okay. Alright.

SPEAKER_00

Well, I smell nice. That's good.

SPEAKER_02

It's like so it smelled like mildew and cigarettes. And then he asked me, Do you want the windows in?

The Show Concept: Tourism Meets Talk Therapy

SPEAKER_01

I was like, Yeah, just crack it, please. Just crack it.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, you want the mic drop moment?

SPEAKER_01

What's up?

SPEAKER_00

I do this for a podcast.

SPEAKER_01

You do this for a podcast? That's all I do.

SPEAKER_00

I come down twice a week. I have this podcast. It's like a combination of DC tourism and talk-space therapy. It's the craziest thing I've ever done in my life.

SPEAKER_02

Therapy. Oh man, are you an emotional fella?

SPEAKER_00

I can be.

SPEAKER_02

I feel it.

SPEAKER_00

I make people cry.

SPEAKER_02

I know. I feel it. Um I actually beard groomed. Just like how it's groomed, it's like, okay, if you had the connecting with the chops and the beard like separated, that's like tough guy energy.

SPEAKER_00

Is this your husband or boyfriend?

SPEAKER_02

No, no, no, no. It's a friend.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, you're my spirit animal already. Just letting you know.

SPEAKER_02

I have a lesson.

SPEAKER_00

You and I are like, Well, perfect! Perfect.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, yeah, we could totally check out ladies together.

SPEAKER_00

No, no pretense uh drink on me.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, nice. I love it. That's excellent. Man, if we had an extra ticket, actually just a poetry reading, um, you would have been totally invited. I wish we were going to a club because I would kidnap you.

SPEAKER_00

Want you to listen to the podcast at some point. I'll give you the name and all that. All right, my stay in touch. It is the most fascinating study in sociology. It trumps any master's level degree you could get.

SPEAKER_01

It's I believe you can.

SPEAKER_00

It's a good everyone's got a narrative.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I think it's a good idea. And if I can coax it out of you. No, you don't ever coax anything.

SPEAKER_00

Well, not you, but I mean, there are some introverted people in the world for sure. Wait, not you.

SPEAKER_02

I mean your average Joe. Not whatever ridiculousness I just felt so close to. It's a matter of two minutes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

You're my bourbon swelling lesbian friend.

SPEAKER_02

I just had bourbon earlier.

SPEAKER_00

Say? That's gonna be the title of this episode. We just had a big one. If you'd like to be on.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, man.

SPEAKER_00

What's uh what's your favorite uh bourbon? What do you like?

SPEAKER_02

I don't know. Like I can be anything. I know. It's not a quiz. I know, I know. Okay, the one that has like a deer.

SPEAKER_00

Um, don't you dare say Breckenridge.

SPEAKER_02

God damn it.

SPEAKER_00

That would have been really creepy.

unknown

Maybe.

SPEAKER_00

However, Breckenridge is phenomenal.

Bourbon, Bars, And Sensing The Details

SPEAKER_02

I think I just have to see the logo, my guy. Does it have a deer logo?

SPEAKER_00

It might. Maybe it's a mountain. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02

No, it's a deer.

SPEAKER_00

It might be.

SPEAKER_02

It's a good. They have like different classes and stuff.

SPEAKER_00

What's your what's your friend's name?

SPEAKER_03

George.

SPEAKER_00

George. George, Google Breckinridge Bourbon. What's the what's the label?

SPEAKER_02

No, I I didn't. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00

See, George is feeling left out of the conversation. I feel guilty.

SPEAKER_02

No, it's fine. I'm I'm the extrovert here. He's he's gonna be so entertained. We did this last week. I made friends with the DJ and the bartender, and then the next day he's like, I had a great time. And I'm like, you know what? Yeah, it was Tuesday night.

SPEAKER_00

That's awesome. Um wait, Lincoln Theater. Who's there tonight?

SPEAKER_02

Uh Jesse Reya. She is a songwriter, but then she also does spoken word. She wrote a poetry book. So we're just okay, okay, okay. I'm an old person. I don't know who that is. It's okay. I honestly I just go on random adventures.

SPEAKER_00

I'm uh again, spirit animal. I love it.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_00

I I'm trying to relearn that.

SPEAKER_02

You're trying to relearn to be so open? You are open.

SPEAKER_00

No, I mean, just to kind of try. The world is your stage and just.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, yeah, especially when you see there's a lot of under stuff that you're like, whoa, how did I end up here? And you're just just go with it, man.

SPEAKER_00

You know where I went the other night for dinner, and I had probably the best old fashioned I've ever had in my life.

SPEAKER_02

Oh man.

SPEAKER_00

At uh Shoto.

unknown

Oh!

SPEAKER_02

I know where that is! It does have a great old fashioned.

SPEAKER_00

It was like it was, I guess their Japanese, whatever it was. But it was almost like the orange peel was frozen inside of the ice cube like like amber, like Jurassic Park.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_00

So as it melted down, the aromatics of that would kind of dilute into the water. Sensitive? No, I'm just descriptive.

SPEAKER_02

No, man, that takes sensitivity. What the heck are you talking about? Sensitivity doesn't mean you cry every time. Sensitivity just means that you are um sensitive and you're heavily impacted by slight things. That's sensitivity.

SPEAKER_00

I like that.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, people always associate it with like the act of crying.

SPEAKER_00

No, it's like a gluten intolerance. I'm just sensitive the other way.

SPEAKER_02

You're just like you notice the small things, and that is sensitivity. That's important. Yeah, but not everybody. Like I I go outside and look, smells like winter. And then how do people live 30 years without like understanding there's like sense to different like um weather, like the seasons?

SPEAKER_00

The precipitation and all that.

SPEAKER_02

Exactly. And all like you just not smell air.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, hold on one second. Sorry.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, who's bestie calling us?

SPEAKER_00

Um, that's my son, Basil.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, can we talk to your son?

SPEAKER_00

No.

SPEAKER_02

How old is your son?

SPEAKER_00

He is 18, senior in high school.

SPEAKER_02

Let's not do that.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We still gotta be strict. Okay. 21, you you can be like, what yeah, my other kid's 20.

SPEAKER_00

He'll be 21.

SPEAKER_02

No, no, no. 23, you could be yourself. But 21, you're like, you're creeping them into like, oh, this is how Pops really is.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, they know, they know. They get like, they get like Yeah, they get like 50% like no peaks every now and then.

SPEAKER_02

23, you get to be yourself. And then when you're like yourself, well, I'm 31 now. I feel like you're 12.

SPEAKER_00

What are you talking about? You're 35.

SPEAKER_02

I'm Asian, Asian no raisin. It's okay. Until we hit a certain age, and then that's so funny. Then it was just downhill.

SPEAKER_00

It's all the omega 3 and 6. It just is.

SPEAKER_02

It is. I but I think Asian people just live. I don't know. Maybe it's the rice cooker, giving those extra energy.

SPEAKER_00

Maybe um, I try to really, I don't preach, but I try to just lay it out for my kids, like the simple pleasures of life. It's so easy to go through with this wide.

Parenting, Age, And Simple Pleasures

SPEAKER_02

Like 21, I'd be like, shut up, man.

SPEAKER_00

From like old guy perspective, right? I just turned 57. And so when I mean simple pleasure, I mean like playing golf with a caddy, a walk unobstructed.

SPEAKER_02

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Or a hot razor shave, like old school, where you think you might get whacked, but you know, with the actual straight razor shave.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, simple satisfactions over life.

SPEAKER_00

Little tiny simple pleasures like that. That's because we're you know, a sip of a bourbon and a good conversation.

SPEAKER_02

100%, just meeting good people.

SPEAKER_00

I don't need the dun dun dun dun dun again.

SPEAKER_02

I just saw your car and I was like, you're here?

SPEAKER_01

We didn't have to walk. You know how excited I was? Talk about simple pleasures of life.

SPEAKER_00

There was a magnetism. I was being drawn in to that radiant wherever that cul de sac was. It was a little sketchy for about a half second time.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it was gonna jump you.

SPEAKER_00

I was like, eh.

SPEAKER_02

You were like, I can handle message.

SPEAKER_00

If I was if I was writing the script, this is where I would wake up missing a kidney, would be in that kind of an environment.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

It had nothing to do with your race, by the way, George. No, no.

SPEAKER_00

That was just the general how long have you guys lived in the city here? Or do you?

SPEAKER_02

Uh I live near Dulles Airport. Oh. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, we can't be friends. You're in Virginia.

SPEAKER_02

I know, I know. It's a terrible thing. I'm very not Northern Virginia. I've got Northern Virginia taste, but like people say my personality is vile.

SPEAKER_00

Uh, it's not Nova, I know that.

SPEAKER_02

I know, it's crazy.

SPEAKER_00

It's not that.

SPEAKER_02

I know. But I do have pretentious days. I'm just like, mmm.

SPEAKER_00

I'm picking up like San Francisco.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, people think I'm a beach kid a lot.

SPEAKER_00

San Francisco, but like a Vegas transplant thing.

SPEAKER_02

Like you're ready to roll. I like it. I like what you smell in there. Where are you originally from?

SPEAKER_00

Here.

SPEAKER_02

DC.

SPEAKER_00

Born in DC, grew up part of DC. Grew up in like Rockville, Bethesda area. Went to school in Florida, came back, never left.

SPEAKER_02

We got the Florida and beard.

SPEAKER_00

The what?

SPEAKER_02

The Floriden beard.

SPEAKER_00

This? No, no, no. This just breaks up the monotony of my face.

SPEAKER_02

You didn't get that from Florida? You didn't get inspired by Floridians?

SPEAKER_00

No, no, no. When I was in Florida, all I did was to do drugs and not study. That's all I did.

SPEAKER_02

What undergrad? Did you go to undergrad there?

SPEAKER_00

Uh yes, it was Lynn University. Um, which I mean it's like between West Palm and Lauderdale, mile from the beach. There was nothing happening there.

unknown

Oh.

SPEAKER_00

Education-wise. Who was at the Warner tonight?

SPEAKER_02

Is that why you're very your brain is very open because of the drug?

SPEAKER_00

I don't think so. I don't think so. I just think it's my curious nature.

SPEAKER_02

I'm just I'm just asking. Maybe you had a spiritual awakening, you know. They used to do that in the old days, is they get plastered with drugs to have a spiritual awakening.

SPEAKER_00

Full disclosure, someone tried to convert me like two rides ago to being a born-again. Oh I was like, I'm good.

SPEAKER_02

Were you conveyed? Were you persuaded?

SPEAKER_00

No, I mean the lady, she was very nice.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Um, she worked at the World Bank, she was from West Africa, I think Ghana, I think.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Schooled in the UK.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Very intelligent. Great conversation.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And then she just asked about me and my background, and I don't know. All of a sudden she thought it was okay to bring me in.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Like, yeah, I don't think it works that way. In their tree.

SPEAKER_02

In their perspective, that was love.

SPEAKER_00

I guess.

SPEAKER_02

I know. I know. Well, coming from immigrant parents, they display love terribly. Um, but we're here. We're alive.

SPEAKER_00

My my immigrant parents uh spell love F-O-O-D.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, same. Food. Yeah, they don't apologize, they cut you up through.

unknown

Got you.

SPEAKER_00

Well, you know what it is? I mean, I mean, and uh see honestly, it my families are from Greece and from Italy.

SPEAKER_02

And they each say apologize in food all day.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, yeah, I had no chance of being skinny. That's one of the episode names of one of the recent episodes. Yeah. Oh my god. Um I can cook too.

SPEAKER_01

Oh no, you have to! Yeah, otherwise it's an insult.

SPEAKER_00

Correct, right.

SPEAKER_01

Um it doesn't even matter if you're a man in those two cultures. No, no, no.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, I couldn't all I grew up just hanging out with my mom in the kitchen, just bullshitting. Um, but like the hold on one second. We're getting lost in the conversation.

SPEAKER_02

Not in translation, but he said we are getting lost, or you are getting lost.

Roots, Food, And Why We Overfeed

SPEAKER_00

Um that mentality, like both were occupied during World War II. They fled those countries to come seek a better life.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So the the the grand women, the the mothers and the grandparents, when they came here and assimilated, they never forgot what they went through. And so they realized that every day isn't promised, tomorrow can be taken away. And so, in the moments where you have, you give, and you eat, and you celebrate life because the next day isn't promised. And that's why stereotypically Italians overfeed their families or Greeks. That's the that's the core essence of it.

SPEAKER_02

And like on top of that, I somebody asked me.

SPEAKER_00

I feel like I'm going up a wrong way street here, but I'm gonna go with it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Someone asked me like why I love to cook so much, and I feel like cooking, especially like my cultural food, so I'm Filipino. Like, I feel like closer with the ancestors. Like, as crazy as that sounds, there's something ancestral, like on the act of cooking.

SPEAKER_00

You're second Filipino this evening, by the way.

SPEAKER_02

Who?

SPEAKER_00

You're the second Filipino in the car this evening.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. We're everywhere. We like to populate. We travel in packs.

SPEAKER_00

That's true.

SPEAKER_02

You see a group of Asians all the time, like we travel in pack. Okay.

SPEAKER_00

But here's the question the other person couldn't answer. What makes Filipino cuisine Filipino? Is it is it is it a certain protein? Is it an aromatic? What makes it Filipino by by definition? Compared to say Korean or Japanese? What's the what's the core ingredient that makes it such?

SPEAKER_02

It's like sweet and savory. It's like found a lot throughout the Filipino, like cuisine that's native. And like like the sour and peanut butter, but I do notice like a lot of it is in terms of like preservatives, because not a lot of people have refrigerators, so they'll dry their fish often. Like the things that we cook in and like vinegar is things that can be stable outside the fridge, too.

SPEAKER_00

Good point. Okay.

SPEAKER_02

So like a lot of the cuisine some people think that like it's not really fresh, and I'm like, yes, like yes, our fish could be fresh if you like live through it, but like a lot of things like trans like grasses into like how the the livelihood could it be outside of a fridge.

SPEAKER_00

Right. Now see, I I find that fascinating. Because certain cultures are like that, absolutely. Yeah, you don't have an ice box where you're gonna learn how to preserve your food.

SPEAKER_02

Uh-huh. So, like, some of it's like soury taste because it's like vinegar and sweet because of this, like, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

Sweet savory, sour is like the most flavored product.

SPEAKER_00

Do you have family back in the Philippines?

SPEAKER_02

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Do you go back often?

SPEAKER_02

Um, last time I was 16, so it's been 15 years.

SPEAKER_00

That's a brutal plane ride. It has to be.

SPEAKER_02

It is. Um, but I went to Spain um earlier this year. Okay. Sorry, I'm traveling. I just haven't been to uh the motherlands in a while.

SPEAKER_00

Spain seems like a cakewalk compared to being on a plane to the Philippines. Oh, yeah, it was great.

SPEAKER_02

I was just chatting up um with my like the person who sat next to me. And apparently me and her were talking so much. Her husband moved seats. Her husband requested to move seats because we're chatting too much.

SPEAKER_00

That's the best.

SPEAKER_02

Um, and then I don't know why. Like the the lady.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, I know why.

What Makes Filipino Cuisine Filipino

SPEAKER_02

No, the Air France. Okay, we only get one little bottle of like Chardonnay, okay? The Air France is like included. But she was just like, the lady's like, hell have another one. And it just like was free. They were just still giving us and we're still chatting up. Um, but yeah, man. I think the best compliment I got from an Uber driver was it's like, you have this weird like gift that you feel like talking to an old friend.

SPEAKER_00

And I'm like, Yeah, that's a life skill.

SPEAKER_01

That's the sweetest thing we've ever heard of. That is life. George Hyundai's so sweet.

SPEAKER_00

See, George is the one I'm I'm interested in. George has nothing to say, but he's got everything to say. No, there's a story there. There's a story there, George.

SPEAKER_02

I will say that, George.

SPEAKER_00

See?

SPEAKER_02

So if I feel like you end up in adventures because you don't mind getting dragged into nonsense. But like it's not just me. It's like different people too. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Well, you both compliment each other, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_02

I like how you said we are getting lost here.

SPEAKER_00

Well, we are together for this short time, so you know.

SPEAKER_01

I'm not the pilots here.

SPEAKER_00

Start I know it's either Howard or Lincoln where they're doing some like jazz thing now. Like a jazz club. Something.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, but they've been doing that.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

It's in um it's at a restaurant and it's the downstairs speakeasy thing. Right.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, a lot of places in DC are like that.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

I'm like, we gotta eat separately.

SPEAKER_00

Well, here's a I like doing this, I call them like Uber dates, where you get downtown somewhere, I'll park the car, and then we just do like some Uber blacks to a place for appetizers. Like Shoto, go sit at the bar and have like the little the taco, the sushi tacos are fucking nuts, by the way. They could be$50 a piece and I'd still pay for them. Um and then bust out of there like rock stars, have a drink, and then go to like some other place for an entree, and then go to some other place for dessert, and then another place for a nightcap or whatever it is.

SPEAKER_02

When we hung out last week, I was.

SPEAKER_00

You're moving.

SPEAKER_02

You're so cool.

SPEAKER_01

You're like me.

SPEAKER_00

Well, I'm just saying, I don't need one giant meal at one place.

SPEAKER_01

I want to go around and just No, but we make the most interesting people. People love us, man. Because we notice spots, we take them to kidnap, and then they just have the small time.

SPEAKER_00

Have you been to Balos?

SPEAKER_01

Yes.

SPEAKER_00

I fucking love that place. Those are my people, man. That's as close to actual, like real, authentic Greek food as I would send anyone.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, now I know I'm eating the good stuff. I haven't had someone vet it yet. I just love it. I just haven't had the second dairy, like, hey, I know Greek food.

SPEAKER_00

Octopus is spot on. And the chocolate cake. Weird combo. Just roll with it.

SPEAKER_02

Hey, okay, hey, I'm down.

SPEAKER_00

Let me do a quick little U-turn.

SPEAKER_02

Man, the princess treatment is so strange.

SPEAKER_00

Oh my god. Man, if I actually did this to do it, I'd be like, yeah, you're just get out of here.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. A lot of people just do it to do, and that's okay. They're just living life.

SPEAKER_00

No, they're not. They're just making honest money.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, it's honest money, man.

SPEAKER_00

Hello, sir. We're coming in.

SPEAKER_02

Don't you know we're in DC? He don't care. Look at him, throw his hands up.

SPEAKER_00

Alright.

SPEAKER_02

Alright, thank you.

SPEAKER_00

Cool. It was great chatting with you. You have the name of the podcast?

SPEAKER_02

Alright. So I got up until and then I tried to look for it. I couldn't find it. So I'm on Spotify.

SPEAKER_00

But if you go to my website, there's a link for the podcast.

SPEAKER_02

I'm still gonna stalk you later. Please do.

SPEAKER_00

George. Good talking to you.

SPEAKER_02

Good talking to you. George, release me.

SPEAKER_00

Stick your hand in there. There you go. Cool. Have a great time, guys. All right, thank you very much. Have a good night. Thank you for listening to this episode of RodChair Road Talk. If you've enjoyed what you've heard, we'd love for you to review the podcast on your favorite listening platform like Apple or Spotify. Your support helps us so much, and don't forget to reach out on Instagram with your feedback or topic suggestions. Until next time, let's drive.