NZXT PODCAST - #091 - Amanda

Episode Date: June 6, 2021

This week on the podcast, the crew is joined by Amanda from the community team! Amanda and the crew discuss Pride, Conchas, and keyboard switches. Follow

Hello everybody and welcome to episode 91 of the N60 Clubcast, the official podcast of the NZXT community. This podcast is recorded live every Thursday at 10 a.m. Pacific Standard Time the official NXC Discord server and is available to stream on-demand on Apple Podcasts, Google podcast, Spotify, and SoundCloud. So stand up for the Pledge of Allegiance to the podcast sung by Lil Nasak. My name is Dennis. And with me as always as I've been. Hey, Dennis. I am proud to be here. I am incredibly proud to be here as well, Ivan. By the way, I think we got to update that podcast outline

because I don't think we've ever once successfully made this thing go live at 10 a.m. It's always like 10.08, I think the latest probably like 1015 at one point. Yeah, I think like Talley said, 10-ish is good. 10ish is good. I like setting it, I like saying 10 a.m. because it kind of gives people the impression that we're organized. And then when they get here, it's like a culture shock and they have to adjust, right? And I've heard that the best marketing is supposed to shock and confuse you.

So that's kind of the purpose of it, right? You listen to like, you know, an episode on demand because you don't, you know, you couldn't make you here on time. And then you go, oh, you know, I'm going to catch a live show. And then you get to the last show, you're like, what the heck? These guys are not organized at all, right? And then just, you know, you just stick around to find out what happens. That's brilliant marketing, Dennis. Thank you. That's why I'm the host of this podcast and I know there aren't.

We have a very, very, very special show today. It is the first episode of our, of the NST Pride extravaganza. And to talk about all the amazing things going on with Pride at NSXT, you have our very super-duper special guest, Amanda Toparko from the community team. Amanda, how are you? I'm good. It's good to be back. Are you excited? Fun fact for the community here. So Amanda actually has the rare distinction of being the most listened to most popular podcast we've ever recorded.

Like it's crazy. I think it, when she was on, we had like, I don't know how many people, but it was like in thousands and thousands more than we usually get. So I'm expecting that we're going to, like, beat that record today. So welcome, Amanda. I have a lot of fans in France, apparently. That was the other thing, too, that was weird. It was like everyone was from France.

I don't know what happened, but I'll take it. I'll take it. Yeah, it was weird because, like, when we were looking at the analytics for that one episode, yeah, we saw that everybody, the majority of people were from France, and then they never came back. So we don't know if it's, like, a great show, and they're like, and men isn't on anymore, forget this, and maybe they'll be back, right?

Or, right? Like, maybe this is the episode that all the French peeps have been waiting for. They want the return of Amanda, and now they're going to get it. Yeah, I set the bar high is what happened. And then they were like, oh, this is peak. You know what I mean?

Yeah. And so they're like, why do I, why should I keep listening? I already heard the best. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Yes, exactly. I'm glad we agree. Yeah.

It's like the queen of the podcast is gone and now, you know, these two clowns are sticking around talking about pineapple pizza, forget it, you know. I'm not going to stick around anymore. But now that you're back, right, maybe, you know, maybe it'll be, it'll be something great. So to continue on here. Pride Month. Amanda, let's just get it right into it.

We got a lot to talk about what the heck is Pride Month for those who don't know. I know. I know. I don't know, I don't know, but. I'm not sure I'm the spokesperson for. Pride Month, but I can tell you that it's a celebration of the LGBTQIA Plus community. It's a movement to support our rights and just, you know, promote, you know, just awareness and stuff like that.

Yeah, yeah. I was looking some, so like that's the interesting thing about like a month, right, for or any particular type of group or whatever. And the way that I like to explain to people is like it's for celebration, recognition, and for advocacy, right? And whatever that means, you know? So you're either celebrating, you know,

you're LGBTQIA plus friends or you know, you're advocating for them, you're recognizing them. It's kind of like all of the above, right? So, you know, we think it's really important that we celebrate pride. You know, we have, you know, folks in the community, in the company, right? And it doesn't, you know, it only feels right for us to, like, you know, help us to help the support and, and honor them by, you know, celebrating as much as we can.

Amanda, we didn't really do a lot of pride, like before, right? So this is like the, I think, what, this is the second year, right? I think. Yes. Yeah. What do you feel like it's important that we celebrate pride? We have a lot of LGBTQA plus people in our company, as you said, and also in our community. And I think that, you know, it's a great cause to, I just feel like it's something that we should be, we should be supporting.

We love our community and, you know, these people are part of our community. And, yeah, it just makes sense, right? And yeah, and for me personally, like, the reason why I think it's important is, is because like Amanda said, we have people in the company in our community who are part of this group, but like the server at one point, you know, it was not like how it is right now. You know, like we actually, I think one of the very first interactions I ever had with Amanda was when she found out that the word gay was banned on our server. And it wasn't banned because, you know, like we didn't want to support that, you know, group or whatever.

it was banned because the way that people were using that word in the server was, you know, in a negative way. You know, like people calling each other gay as an insult and it shouldn't be that way because it's, there's nothing wrong with it, right? And Amanda was like the person that made me realize, you know, maybe the solution is not telling people not to talk about this stuff. Maybe the solution is actually celebrating this and welcoming people and being more open. with not just, you know, our community, but even internally with our staff. Because like Amanda said, we have staff members here who are, who are part of this community. And for us to like not like celebrate it, it would be wrong in my opinion. And no, not more than ever too. Like we said in our in our pride tweet, in our kickoff tweet, now more than ever, it's like it's even more important to do so because you turn on the news and then, you know, you see all this. crazy stuff still going on today. And, you know, I'm just hoping that we can do our part to, to celebrate pride. And hopefully we make Amanda proud.

We're all proud, Ivan. We're all proud of each other. I mean, it's, it's honestly been great. I think so far, I mean, you know, it's only been, what, it's third. It's only been three days, right? But I already think that, like, we, like, I'm already super proud of, like, everything that we've done so far and, like, all the planning. Because, you know, this is the most.

I think we've like ever done for for pride, you know, and then yeah, the same last month with like mental health awareness, like we're going hard on these things. And I think it's super important because, you know, we we have to give these, these, these celebrations, these like, you know, these months or these like periods of time where we recognize certain things, like the time that they deserve. And it's funny, like it almost kind of feels like, it feels like we're never going to be able to do enough, right? And I think that like what what I have to keep remembering is like, you know, we're doing more than we did before. This is a good thing, right?

And we're going to want to do more next time around, right? And we're going to learn a lot. And we're going to change things around. And we're going to make it way better, so and so forth. But that being said, like, I'm still super happy with what we're doing. I think it's awesome. Yeah. But the one question I have for the homie Amanda is, what are we doing for Pride?

Well, we are doing a charity fundraiser for, the Trevor Project, which is an organization that provides suicide prevention tools to LGBTQIA plus youth. I don't know if anyone has linked the fundraiser in the chats. Okay, awesome. We're also going to have a special prize incentive today for those who are listening to the podcast right now. If you donate at least $10, you get entered into a raffle for an NICT. X-T Pride PC, which is going to be a very, very, very good computer. The case is awesome.

I don't know if you guys have seen the design, but if you're interested in being entered into that raffle, we have lowered the incentive just for the people listening right now. It's going to expire. Refresh your pages. But yeah, it's just 10 bucks and you get entered into that raffle. You have great chances. There's not going to be a ton of people entered in. So definitely worth your time.

But yeah, so we're doing this fundraiser. We have different merch bundles. So if you decide that you want to donate, we're offering things in return, right? So if you donate $100, we're giving you awesome, exclusive, limited edition, NCC Pride merch to say thank you. So that's something that's really cool. Each tier also gives raffle tickets and that goes towards that PC giveaway. But yeah, so the fundraiser is the main piece of the puzzle.

And then we're also doing blog content every single Thursday where we're going to have special guests. And we're going to, we actually have a blog post that's up right now that explains more about our activities, which, yep, Ivan's linking right now. So yeah, stay tuned because we're going to have some really awesome people on as guests for like the next three weeks. And then they're also going to be on the podcast. So stay tuned to the podcast. We also have a playlist that we're going to be doing. That is going to be, you know, something that we can all vibe to this month. And then beyond that, we also have Discord activities.

So if you decide to share the campaign or you decide to donate, we're going to have exclusive game nights and watch parties and stuff like that for the people who, you know, have supported the campaign as a thank you. So that's going to be really awesome. That's why people have all these really cool rainbow colors in the server right now. It's through sharing or donating. If you want more information on that, definitely check out announcements. I listed the instructions on exactly what to do.

And yeah, so that's the main gist. We also internally have set up a pride server for our employees, so a place to hang out, for people to have like a little pride happy hour, play some games, share resources, just a safe space for people who are LGBTQI plus in the community. But yeah, so that's what we have going on. It's going to be really awesome. We have things planned all month. I think I'm probably missing things that we have like a pin giveaway right now.

We have a T-shirt giveaway going on. So check out our social media for sure. But yeah. You know, there's, it's great. There's so much. Yeah, there's so much going on. Like when I look at our Trello and our schedule, I'm like, damn, we're doing a butt ton of stuff right now.

But it's, it's, you know, it's all for a good cause. you know, we're, we're raising money, we're supporting people, we're letting them know that, you know, we see them and that, you know, that they matter. And I think that's really important, right? I think above all else, you know, besides like all the stuff that we're doing, it's just, it's just cool that we're just letting people know that that we care, you know? And, you know, sometimes, you know, like, you get a lot of, like, weird, like, feedback regarding this stuff. But I think regardless, like, we, you know, we hear it as employees, you know, as actual people in the organization care enough that we're pushing these things through and we're making them happen and we're putting time in effort.

And I want to give like a big, you know, like thumbs up and like, you know, round of applause to Amanda. She's been doing so much work on getting this stuff planned out and just working with a million teams and working with me and Ivan specifically because, you know, we're kind of dummies to get all this stuff like out there. So, you know, it's just really cool. Like, it's, I don't know. I like it a lot. Like, I cannot express them enough, like, how cool this stuff is. So, Evan's been linking the, the Trevor Project fundraiser that we're doing. And there are, there are a lot of charities out there that we could have chosen from. Amanda, can you go a little bit into why we decided to go with, with the Trevor Project and what they actually do?

Yeah. So I decided to go with the Trevor Project just because I feel like, you know, with my experience as a young, you know, gay individual, I was definitely struggling as a kid. There wasn't a lot of representation. I definitely like did not have it great in school. There was like a lot of kids that were not very accepting or like just didn't understand and definitely a lot of bullying going on and things like that. So when I was thinking about which nonprofits at Gofer, I was just thinking about Little Amanda. And I was like, you know, it'd be cool to lean into an org that specifically deals with youth. I think that that's like a crucial period too, where, you know, those resources and support are really, really, really important.

So I was like more than happy to go with the Trevor Project for that specifically. And yeah, and they provide like all sorts of resources and education on suicide prevention. and just acceptance and, you know, how to interact with, like, young LGBTQIA plus, you know, youth who, you know, need help and stuff like that. So, yeah, that's just a little bit of why. But, yeah, they offer all sorts of really awesome cool thing. There's, like, an instant, like, chat service that they provide. they also have their own networking site for like LGBTQIA plus kids that like want to just connect and talk to each other. It's awesome.

And I definitely recommend everyone checks it out. I'll drop a link in the chat. I don't know if we have already, but I'll do that. And yeah. Yeah, when I was working on some of the copy for our tweet, we tweeted something yesterday that was basically kind of like a really long thread. about the Trevor Project and why we're supporting them. And one of the things that really stuck out to me, that was nuts is that they are committed to, or is it here,

to serving 1.8 million crisis contacts a year. And apparently they, like, want to do more, which I thought was insane that, like, they helped that many people every single year, and they're like, they're sane enough, we got to do more, which is really crazy to see that they do that while still offering all those, like, slew services. And something, too, they also want to mention is that

they also offer, not services, but also offer like education to help empower allies, right? Which if you guys don't know what that means, it's basically like giving, you know, giving people like me and Ivan essentially like the tools to, to help others. Because sometimes you don't know what you can do, right? Like I am not gay, right? I'm a cisgendered Hispanic male, right? And like, you know, I don't ever have to worry about any of the things that someone in this community

might have to worry about. But, you know, I still want to help. I still want to be available, still want to be, you know, present. And I think it's great that they also, you know, allow, you know, a space for, for people like myself to come in and say, hey, you know, I want to help. Can you teach me how to be overall just a better person, but also just be a better ally? What you think is really important, right? Yeah, that's what I like a lot about it, too, to be honest, is because, you know,

like Amanda mentioned when she was young, like there wasn't a lot of resources like this, and she felt alone. And I'm just a tad bit older than Amanda. I think yesterday I found out I am old enough to be her father. Right, Amanda? Did we confirm? No. You would have been 12, Ivan.

I'm not old enough to be your father. But I am older. So, like, I went to elementary school in the 80s. And like, it's literally like a different world than it is now. But even like compared to the 90s, you know, like, I remember having like gay friends. And I vividly remember them getting picked on and tease. and like made fun of and even beat up, you know, and now that I have a kid, you know, I'm starting to see like, damn, like, it's really important that we teach young people

how to, you know, accept each other because it's okay to be different. It's okay to love who you love. It's okay. And that's what I like about the Trevor Project is because they're actually teaching people this, you know, and not many people are. So I love the Trevor Project. They're a really good organization, and I hope everyone can donate. And if they can donate, you know, there's other ways to help.

You know, even just retweeting our tweet is going to help. So yeah. I agree. I agree. So I want to shift a little bit. And I was going to tell everybody, right? I'm sorry. I've not been paying attention to this podcast.

I've been looking at all this amazing, cool NZXT pride merch that we have on our Tiltify. Who designed itself, Amanda? our creative team designed it Helen and George both designed it I think Helen's in the server actually we could probably ping her Ducky Discord Yeah Is Ducky on here

I don't know how many Ducky's there are So I don't want to ping like the wrong one on accident She's here I'm gonna ping it Yeah someone be like what duck are you doing Um Let me have like This is really cool like you know we have We have some awesome shirts.

We have some pins, some stickers. Honestly, I think out of everything, personally, I want that shirt. I think that shirt is super, super cool. It's like, it's like literal, if I can describe it, it's like literal Pucci Pride drip. We should probably like trademark that Pucci Pride drip. I want to see that in chat. Everyone is typing Pucci Pride drip on our Discord and just like let it remember.

Yeah, it's such a cool design for a shirt. I really do like it. Hopefully, hopefully next year I can get some pride pants, you know, so I can wear my support on my pocket next to my iPhone. We are giving away some of those pride shirts. I just dropped the link to the Glean giveaway in the podcast chat. Yes, yes. Yes, yes, yes.

Give me the merch, give me the merch. I have another question for you, Amanda. Since you are the reigning champ right now when it comes to running our stuff here. Is Ivan eligible for this Pride PC? Because this man is still running on a laptop. He took it to the coffee shop yesterday. And it's like, hey, by the way, dude, I can't plug it in.

I have to run back home. Yeah, that was annoying. We need to get Ivan. We need to get Ivan a computer, please. I thought the laptop was supposed to be a better option than the other computer he had, which was also terrible. Like, what did this laptop do for you, Ivan? I feel like you're still struggling.

You're still having tech problems. But I have a very good explanation why I chose to go with the laptop. And that's because starting Monday, I will be back in the office full time. So I didn't want to get like a whole new, you know, system in my house. Because I love my computer at home. It's like Manta, my favorite case ever. I don't ever want to get rid of it. And I figured, you know, instead of getting like a H510 elite or whatever and getting rid of this,

I was like, well, I'm going to get vaccinated soon. and I'll be back in the office. I'll just get a laptop and I'll work at a coffee shop if I need to or whatever or even at home. Yeah, fun fact, though, yesterday I was at the coffee shop and I was working on some pride stuff and someone actually walking behind me, they told me that they liked the artwork. Yeah, it's pretty nice. And I said, oh, thank you. And I told them to go donate to our campaign and all that.

I don't know if they did, but yeah. So the laptop already paid for itself if they did donate. There was somebody on Twitter DMs yesterday who asked us, why are you guys supporting pride? And the response from one of our amazing peeps who helped us on Twitter was like, why not? And they then responded, I don't know, it just seems kind of weird. By the way, can you get a free PC?

And I responded, sure, we'll think about it if you donate to our campaign. I don't think it's responding yet. But I'm out here just actively telling people everywhere, like, hey, we have this campaign. Go donate, please. Please go donate. like go donate. We were trying to raise a bazillion dollars so we can be the pridiest pride of all the prides. No, Dennis.

According to Facebook comments, this is all one big marketing ploy for us to sell computers, apparently. So they stay. Exactly. Yeah. It's like one thing that was driving me nuts about this is just some people, like, and I think Amanda actually linked something that said on Twitter. Like people calling out companies and brands for celebrating pride. And, you know, I get it. You know, like, it's definitely like on the surface.

If you don't really know what's going on, it might come off a certain way. But, you know, and that's like literally the last thing on our mind from doing any of this is making money. You know, it's literally like we want to support this community. We want to raise money for Trevor Project. We want to, we want to, you know, do something good for people on. in the LGBTQIA plus community. And it's a little sad for me when I see comments like that, because part of me just wants to explain to them,

you know, what's going on. And the other part of me just wants to like block them and never hear from them again. So it's just, I'm hoping that, you know, the more we do this, the more as a years go on, people start realizing that, you know, it's actually, you know, we have the best intentions in mind. with all this. I'm not trying to like capitalize on anything here. Yeah, um, yeah, the

that thread that Amanda linked yesterday in our in our Slack to me was like really nice because, you know, as someone who is literally on social media like every single day, you know, like I have to see all these like crappy comments, right? And like don't get me wrong, right? Like I, you know, I'm super cynical of like a lot of things, right? Like I understand how the corporate America works and how marketing works and so on and so forth, right? But I think like at the end of the day, you know, it's about supporting the people that we know and love, you know, supporting our fellow co-workers, supporting our friends and family, you know, I have family who's in the community. You know, so, so like for me, it's like, you know, like the, the big part of that thread was,

you know, these, these things wouldn't happen if it wasn't for, you know, the people, the employees in the company making them happen, right? It's not just some like magic like corporate machine just, you know, plops out some rainbows and then everything's all good, right? There's like literal people behind the work who are looking at this stuff and like they're there and they're like paying attention. So, you know, it's, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's one of those things where like you, like, kind of have to remember a little bit that, you know, for me, when I explain to people, you know, I personally believe that that corporations, companies, whatever, have some sort of social responsibility, right?

Whatever that is to support the people that they're serving, right? And, you know, a large part of our community is, is in the community, right? So there's no reason why we shouldn't do stuff like this, you know. It just makes sense, right? It feels right. You know, and we're going to continue to do what feels right. And, you know, the real ones are going to stick around and the haters are going to hate. And, you know, we're just going to keep on doing what we're doing and do some good work.

So, Amanda, last question for you. How can others get involved in the amazing pride festivities or just in general? Well, specifically if you would like to support our campaign, just sharing it on social media would be key. But if you also can donate, that'd be awesome. We're trying to hit that goal. I think we're over halfway there, which is awesome within the first few days of the month. But yeah, all the donations help, all the social sharing helps. But if, like, in general, you just want to help, like, reach out and talk to you anyone in your life.

That's LGBTQIA plus. you know, have a conversation with them, see what their needs are, what their support looks like. But beyond that as well, you know, check out some nonprofits, some nonprofit social media that you can engage with and comment on, spread awareness to. You know, all of those things definitely help during this month. So that would be my recommendation. You're talking. You're muted, Dennis. I know. I definitely was muted. Nice, nice

It's, you know It's a lot going on right now Ivan, have you donated? I am an anonymous donor, yes Ooh, Amanda, have you donated? I have, not anonymous. Chat, have you donated? If not, you better get on that

Or if not, you know, just share the pride stuff. We have a lot going on. Talley donated. Tally did donate it, I know. Yeah, there's a, there's a, there's a, there's a, there's a, I think, like a battle between Tally and someone else to be the top if I look at that list.

But yeah, I know that like a lot of people, I've seen a lot of comments that a lot of people are waiting for like payday. Which makes sense because we announced this like really like just randomly early in the week. So I feel like we'll see a flood of donations on the weekend for sure. I hope. I'm over here. Wishful thinking. Really hoping. But, yeah.

I mean, what, in, like, three days, you've already raised, like, $4.5,000, you know, $1,000, which I think is super, super cool. 5.4.4K. $5,4,333, and 77 cents. Everyone knows who's out here just, like, donating cents. I find it that me so funny. Let me see here.

Actually, that's funny. I don't even know. Someone actually did donate just straight up 77 cents. I don't know how. I don't know how they got to that, to that amount. I'm not sure if, like, Tultify just, like, let's you, like, put money in and maybe, like, through, like, natural, like, just donating through different charities, he's ended up having, like, 77 cents left. But, like, I don't think I've ever seen a charity have, like, you know, oh, you can win this if you, you know, if you donate $12.56 and, you know, this thing is $9.9 and, like, $0.6.

So I'm really curious how he got that amount. Maybe it's just this thing, right? Maybe it's like a branding thing. He just likes having the 77 cents on there. Could be. Could be. Now I'm just ranting about 77 cents. I'm sorry about that.

We just need someone to donate to get us back to an even. Yeah. Obviously. Exactly. Yeah. So we need to donate. Let's see, like a Calcareer, 77 minus 100. So we need to donate 23 cents to get us back.

Listen, guys, I don't know math, right? There's a reason why I do social media, and I'm not like on the analytics team. Okay, do you. Um, I can't do, I can't do mental math, but someone needs to donate whatever number and 23 cents and then we're back up to round numbers, which will make me feel better. And I'm sure a lot of people feel better. Um, so I'm added real quick, I want to ask you and this is going to put you a little bit on the spot. Um, and it's totally okay if you, if you mess up a little bit, but do you have any people in particular that you want to give a shout out to, uh,

when it comes to getting all this pride stuff set up? Yeah, the entire comms team, I feel like also creative. So you know, you guys here, Ivan Dennis, Talley, Andy, the creative team, Helen's been awesome, Raina's been awesome, George was awesome. I think we did a really great job getting everything going and up on time. And, you know, the people that are providing us with really awesome blog posts and podcast I'd also shout out but they're kind of like mystery guess so I don't want to um yeah I think like just the just everyone involved with this project did a really great job and made me feel very

supported and um helped get everything going uh also um a shout out to be a peach as well in the server who helped with you know um internal and external and external activities, setting up the Pride server, setting up the game nights and everything that are going on within club. She also helped, you know, just generate some ideas on what we could be doing and how. And yeah, so if everyone can drop Purple Hearts in the chat for B, that'd be super cool. I want to thank her for setting up the Pridecast channel. and open them up because every time I open up

these channels and I close them, she immediately like DMs me. It's like, you did it wrong. I'm like, oh, sorry. Because I always do these things wrong. So, you know, thanks to her as well for like making sure that like we are not breaking stuff. And the ironic thing is that

is that Dennis is the one that told me he's like, let me take care of this because you always mess it up and he always messes it up himself. So I'm like, whatever. Just, but yeah, B's awesome. Like, without B, I think a lot of stuff would break around here. So thank you, B. Yeah, it's like, or as I just renamed her, Poochie's Peach.

Poochie's Peach, oh my God. Oh, no. We need more Pee names. No, I don't like that. But also, just to say really quick, someone donated $1.23 and got us even, and then another person donated a dollar in 23 cents. So now we have, now instead of 77 cents, we have 23 cents extra. Please someone round this out.

I'm very upset. I'm getting more uncomfortable by the second. I think if we get enough people to donate 23 cents, we'll eventually get back up to a round number, right? I don't know how that works. Don't quote me on that. The job of the club is to keep this even, all right? Everyone heard it here first. Keep it even.

Exactly. Also, if everyone in the server just gives me $1, I'll be able to retire. Okay. Please do that, too. Speaking of which I've been, just quick aside, how's your Doge doing? It's actually going back up. I didn't check it this morning, but took a little hit. Not going to lie, it did bum me out.

But it's still, I'm looking at, I'm in this for the long term, man. There is no long term, bro. There is no long term. Like this year, like this year alone, it's up 1,429%. So I'm not like I'm not really worried about the dips and like I said I only put my I put my stimulus check in this thing so it's literally free money for me like I'm just I and for me it's just a meme like if I do make a lot of money from it awesome if not it's like it's just fun to to see doge Twitter and I get a chuckle out of it. Yeah I I just just going to quickly like slide into like stock talk for a couple. quick minute. I, I bought AMC as a lark like months and months and months ago. Just like, you know, because like normal pandemics are right. I'm like, okay, you know, people aren't going to movie

theaters. Talks in a day. I'll probably pick it up. And then people, I'm like, on like the Wall Street best stuff we're like talking about it. And I'm like, you know, y'all crazy. Ain't going to be that nuts. And like I wake up like two, like two days ago. I'm like, oh, okay, I guess, you know, I guess I have some money in my account now. So it's, it's pretty funny. And don't worry, guys. Some of that money will go to a good cost. So don't worry. Um, okay. I think, uh, foo, I, so much. We talked about so much, went over so much regarding pride. Um, wait, wait, breaking news. Oh, oh. What? Another person donated a dollar in 77 cents. And now again, we were just even. I don't, why are people trolling me right now? This is upsetting. I don't like it. Please bring it back. Oh, my gosh. All right. I'm sorry. Continue, Dennis, but this is just very frustrating. now. No, I mean, hey, listen, if you want, we can turn the last part of this podcast. He's a charity drive and people listening like on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and

SoundCloud can just be like, whoa, this is so exciting. I wonder what's going to happen at the end of this thing. And it's just like a really, really crazy episode. It's just a tug of war right now with people who like want to make it even because it looks nicer and the people that just want to troll the heck out of me. But you know what. Yeah. It's fine. Just troll me. I'm going to stop looking. I'm not going to look anymore. Yeah. That's a lie. I'm going to keep looking. Totally going to keep looking. Any last thoughts about Pride for the podcast at the very least?

Ivan, Amanda, anything you guys want to go on and say? And too, there's like any calls to action, anything you want to point out? Any like last unfiltered thoughts? I think I pretty much said all that we could say about what we got going on with Pride. You know, I guess I just want to, you know, kind of what I said earlier, it's like just, just be nice to each other. Like this month, you know, even if you don't donate, at least take the time to reflect on what it's about,

because it's important, you know. And like I said earlier, I have a daughter, and the last thing I care about is, you know, who she loves. It's more important that she finds someone that loves her as much as I do. So if you can, you know, just reach out to a friend who might be struggling, share the campaign, whatever. It's not just about donating money. It's also about learning a little bit this month.

Exactly. Anything else? Yeah. We're going to have stuff going on all month long, like I said. So check out our activity calendar on social media. We do have a really nice asset that was put together for that. So everyone knows exactly what to look for every day of the month, that we have something going on.

So definitely take a look at that. Check out our blog posts. Keep tuning into our podcast. And then again, if you want to check out the fundraiser and donate, awesome. If not, just sharing the campaign in social media. Or with your friends and family, coworkers, whoever, that also helps too. And yeah, I think that's your, you know, also you can donate some results too if you'd like. You don't have to donate to us.

So either way that that also works. Yeah, very good point. Yeah, you can donate however you want to wherever you want during the month of pride. And you can also donate, you know, off the month, right, if you want to. I think the reason why I actually kind of like having like a Pride month, right, as much as some people kind of like give us crap for it is like it kind of focuses everything on like one big thing, you know? It's like it's all working this together. And it becomes almost a thing that like these charities can kind of plan around and kind of work towards and like really like get like a lot of participation in, right? Because I think like, like, What a lot of people feel to realize, what a lot of people feel to realize is like, we all kind of like being on like a team, you know? And it's something that I noticed like, like, I don't care about watching like baseball, right? But if I'm at a game, I'm super hyped up, right? If everyone around me is hyped up, then I'm hyped up, right? And then I want to kind of do more with whatever's going on.

So like, personally, I think stuff with this is great because, you know, it kind of gets people ready. You know, they like maybe plan around it. Like I was talking to beat and she's like, I'm going to donate to this. I'm going to donate to this. I'm going to get this. I'm going to get that. You know, like, you know, she's all about. about that stuff. And like to me it's like, you know, some people, you know, some people do that.

It's like, it's like going, it's like akin to me going to Evo, right, for like Street Fighter 5 or whatever game is out to play, fighting game wise, right? Because I know I'm going to go there. It's a thing. I'm planning for it. I got my money saved up, right? And like, I kind of go all in, you know? And I think it's cool. You know, it's kind of nice seeing as like a outpouring of support, you know, it'd be great if you could do it every single day of the year, right? But, you know, realistically, like, that does really make a whole lot of sense. So it's just great to, you know, choose this time to go super, super hard on it, right? Do as much as we can.

And then, you know, throughout the year, we do all the small stuff that we do, you know, throughout the year, generally and externally. Are we just going to ignore the fact that Dennis besmirch the name of baseball, the greatest sport of all time? Listen, Andy's not here, so there's no one to back you up. Okay, Ivan. Because every time you and Andy get in a podcast, he'd start talking about baseball. Or meeting. It is a great game. Or a Slack channel or anywhere you and Andy get together.

It is podcast time. Oh, yeah. Go Dodgers. Exactly. And Tally Gears with me, right. If it's not on ice, it's not a real sport. You know, rip to Toronto. Shout us to Montreal.

I saw that. Actually, the Toronto Blue Jays, they're really fun and exciting baseball team to watch right now. Surprisingly. Sure. I don't know why. I don't know why I said that, but. Have you guys noticed any other cool pride campaigns going on on the Internet? Yeah. Actually, you know, speaking of baseball, the San Francisco Giants announced on June 1st that they're going to update their uniforms for the month to have the pride logo, which is, I think, really awesome. Love that?

Yeah. Especially because, you know, San Francisco. has a really large and thriving gay community. And also to me it's cool because, you know, as a baseball fan, sports fan, I guess, there's a lot of like, you know, this toxicity in sports where, you know, people don't necessarily, you know, agree with pride and things like that.

So just to see like a sports team, you know, a team full of jocks, like with a pride logo, like I love that. awesome. Hopefully other teams can follow suit in other sports. I know the Dodgers are having a pride night. I'm going to see if I can possibly go as an ally show my support and be by some Dodger pride merch. Where is that going to be happening? I think it's June 18th. Oh. And it's going to be I think it might and I think it might be Firework Night as well

Oh really? There's another reason to go I'll send you the info We just got a few donations and I just want to call them out really quickly on the podcast but we got $5 I don't know what the comment is It just says er-r-r-r-r-r-r-r So thank you for that though

Then we got another one for a dollar As a member of the LGBT youth I am super happy to be able to support this with as much money as I got to spare. Thank you very much for that. And then we also have another $10 donation that came in. Happy Pride, enjoy this donation. Trust me, we are enjoying it, except for the fact that you made it not even again. Oh my gosh. Now we're a sent over. This is going to be a thing. It's just at this point, at this point, it's just, it's deeply upsetting. But I appreciate the donation still, but also you're a troll. All right. They are.

Yeah, I'm shouldn't think of campaigns I thought was cool. I like the Xbox collection. I think is really, really cool. They have a really awesome thing going on with their color schemes and the way they've kind of incorporated the Pride colors into the art, which I thought was really great. I don't think. I always like seeing Tempo Storm because for some reason,

their logo meshes so well with Pride. I don't know if you guys have seen it. I think it's super, super great. It's just literally just like their logo, but with pride around it. And just for some reason, it just fits so perfectly. well. It's not very often that like, you know, a logo can just incorporate, like, that kind of design and it just looks natural, and it just looks like it's there all the time. I think, I think

Cloud 9, too, they might have done it. I don't think it did it this year. Yeah, yeah, Cloud N9 is really great, too. I like it a lot. And it's really simple, right? It's just, they just, like, through the, through the colors, but they kind of, like, just did it in the background almost, and I think it's really neat. Like, I love seeing, like, the design behind Pride too, right? Because I think that's a, that's a big part that like kind of is that kind of gets forgotten, right? It's like the design work that goes into like incorporating pride into a way that makes sense with the brand. And this is kind of getting to like brand nerdery a little bit. And I'm sure if we ever have Josh back on the podcast who want to talk about like just nerd,

nerd stuff all the time. But it's like for me, it's really cool seeing the like integration and like the meshing of the brand. And this is something that like we've had conversations with in the past is like how do we how do we incorporate pride colors right pride stuff into the nzxt logo and for us it's about you like making it feel natural and we literally have conversations we're like okay i like the design but it makes it feel like we're not a part of it it makes it feel like they're like separate from us like how can we make that look better and there's a lot of conversations that you know a lot of people may not realize happen behind the scenes over the use of color where the color is located you know should it be a circle should it be a square you know like what does that mean and then we're like

looking all kinds of you know samples and it's it's it's really crazy um so like for me as someone who likes to pay attention to like branding and stuff um because i'm kind of a nerd with that thing um it's it's a really cool seeing just like the mixing of the branding and the colors i i don't know if you guys feel the same yeah all right no for sure yeah that's actually that's that's actually funny because um i also think it looks cool yeah that's like that's just like a bonus I guess. Well, yeah, for sure, for sure. You know, and I think, you know, as long as the representation is there, is cool, right?

But at the same time, if it can mix in really well, it's just kind of adds, like, that little extra bit of flavor, you know? I'm just going through our Twitter right now, just look at it. Yeah, PCMag has a really cool one. I think that's really, really great. It's really cute. I was going through. I really like the ones that, honestly, like, have, like, the colors and representation without it. being a part of the brand like name or or logo specifically like that's one of the reasons why

i really like ours um is that if when i look at it i feel like the LGBT like colors on the side are like being supported and not necessarily like us making it about us if that makes sense um so i really appreciate when i see brands like finding unique and creative ways to incorporate it without like it being just like you know slapping their name in with like the colors a part of it you know I mean yeah no for sure and you know if there are like any oh this one's awesome sorry I had to show this one the Overwatch league one and it's perfect because it's Tracer right and tracer is a gay character and overwatch and I love it looks like she's almost like bringing in right like the color that is so cool this is great radio by the way for those who are like listening off and not in

in the chat you know sucks to be you the best thing listen to the podcast is live 10 a m pacific time 10m Pacific Center time every Thursday on the N6C Discord server, discord.g.g. slash NZT. I went through that really, really quickly. But, you know, it's really great. I love looking out logos. I love looking at art. Shoutouts to Fall Guys for having their practice stuff on literally like 24-7.

They just haven't ever changed it, which I think is cool, too. I'm not going to talk about Walmart. I don't, I don't ever foresee NZXT doing anything with Walmart, but I don't like theirs. I'm sorry, I have to point that out. It just popped up on my, on my feet. Yeah, like, here's the Xbox one. This is the one I was talking about. I think it's awesome.

It's like kind of, it's kind of like all over the place, but it's also just, I don't know, I just love the mashing. Super cool. No, it's a great representation just for, like, I just see so many different flags in that. And I think they came up with, like, a really creative way to try to represent everyone,

like as much as possible, which I really love, like, just looking through, it, I can identify a bunch of different, like, communities within the community. And I think that's really, really, really cool. I also really like the Mediatonic one. I mean, you know, they've always had their stuff like that, too, as well, which has been really awesome.

But yeah, I agree. Like, that's one of the things that I actually really enjoy what Pride Month is just going through and seeing the different ways that people are branding it. Yeah. You know, it's cool. It's definitely cool. Yeah, I'm just going through some of our stuff here. It's great.

All right. So community questions time, folks. I know you all want to ask some questions. We'll try to get them as quickly as we possibly can because we know we talked about a lot here. First one, decaffeinated tea wants to know, how are you, Amanda? How you been? Great. Doing great.

It feels good to be back on the podcast talking with you guys. And, yeah, really enjoy. this month, even though it's taken a lot of work and almost been a little stressful, but it's been super rewarding just to see everything going live and people enjoying it and whatnot. So doing awesome, honestly. All right. Next one is favorite pride flag design. I think we kind of went through that already.

Panthers on pizza. Obviously, always yes. Rami wants to know, Amanda, can you adopt me? Yes, I will adopt you. You can be, yes, you can be my child. All right. Dog wants to know, are you a friend of the French? Yes.

I love the French. I love, you know, French stuff. Like, I know there's baguettes. It's that offensive? I'm not sure. but the French, you know, they have great food, and I love food. So yes, the answer is yes. I'm just going to stop there.

Did you mute yourself, Dennis? No, yes. No, I didn't. Moving on, Deathridge wants to know, maple syrup over pizza, question mark. You mean a Montreal pizza? That sounds. Yes, exactly. Not very good.

It's called the Montreal pizza. Yeah. Put maple syrup on it. Uh-huh. also Montreal pizza has no cheese fun fact I can't imagine pizza wait is that a real thing

yeah it's just Canadian bacon on on yeast with ample syrup on top no uh I'm literally I don't believe that hold on a second

let's Google this Montreal pizza uh okay right you don't believe me Ask Andy a resident Canadian expert. Oh, that's true.

He's not even. No, you're right. No, you're right. I see it right here. Montreal pizza. You Google it and that's what comes up. That's weird. I googled it and I'm seeing regular cheese pizzas.

You must, you must have like geo. Is my Google broken? Yeah, I think so. Oh. Wow. That's a really weird pizza. I don't, I'm down with the pineapple. I'm not down with the maple syrup.

So I'm going to have to pass. All right. Well, you know, different strokes for different folks. right um next comments the next question who wins in a fight one billion lions and one or one of every Pokemon if it's literally one of every single Pokemon

the Pokemon win what's this question one million lines or won a very Pokemon the Pokemon do come on when Charzard he flies and he spits out fire like you literally can't fight against that if you're lying they don't fly I mean okay

exactly yeah okay so someone was talking about something else regarding Pokemon and we were like, bro, Me Too. Like, literally, like, Mutu is a thing. He's like, telepathic can fly Mu, right? Exactly. Be as right.

Mew is a literal god of Pokemon. And then you have, like, all the other, like, super, you know, like, superpowered Pokemon. There's one who literally looks like a lion and he breathes out fire as well. So, like, what that you're going to do? We're talking about this piece of shenanigans afternoon at Poppy, Amanda Dennis. Stop spreading your lives. It's all due to bagel jealousy.

I mean, have we tried a Mexican bagel, a concha a concha? I actually haven't. I've seen them and I've wanted to try them, but I haven't tried them. And are you promoting this? Are you promoting this as, are they as good as the Montreal bagels?

You know? They actually don't exist, not just things as a Mexican bagel. Oh, that is. But we have Mexican bread, though. Why would you do this? Which to me is basically like in the same vein of like breakfast,

breakfast foods, right? things you eat in the morning. Wait, then what are conchas? It's bread with like sugar and other stuff on top of it. So it's just a bit. It's a bagel.

Yeah, it's sugar bagel. That's what we're calling it. Sugar bagel. Okay, I'm down with no hole. Sugar bagel. And yeah, I mean, this is the Montreal pizza thing all over again. You guys are just trying to train me.

No, no, no. Montreal pizza is actually a thing. Like, I don't. I'm going to say the tally. It's probably right. That it's not a thing. I will link it to you after the show. It's totally okay. All right.

Next question. Weird, completely irrelevant question. Do you have a mechanical keyboard? And if so, what switches? This is from the caffeinated invert. I have a glorious, what is the GMMK? And I have a cherry. MX.

Cherry switches. Everyone's judging you right now. I mean, I don't. I'm not a keyboard. enthusiast, okay? I'm not either, to be honest. I have a keyboard and I like it and I don't really feel like changing

it. And like, so every day I get like a DM from B she's like, hey, you should get this. Hey, you should get that. Hey, you should get this. And I'm like, I don't, I'm not about keyboards like that. Like I have a GMMK, right, with the putting key caps. Right. It's a full because I need the 10 key

for my social media numbers. And I have what is this, which is I'm blanking kale burnt oranges because they're nice and clicky, but they're not loud. And I like that, like, kale box white click, right? But they're not, like, super crazy loud.

If you guys want some ASMR, here we go. There you go. Can you hear anything. Oh, too bad then. I think I've been still using, like, a membrane, like Microsoft keyboard or something. I have actually two mechanic keyboard. one at the office, one at home, and they're both NZXT, Ducky Shine, threes.

At work, I have number one out of 150 in black, and then at home I have number two out of 150 in white with cherry reds, my go-to key. Like, I love, you know, I love my keyboard. I wouldn't say I'm a keyboard, like, enthusiast, like B or other people who are, like, lubing their switches and all that stuff like i could care less about that uh but i just want like a comfy keyboard i do have to clean it pretty soon you said you had cherry too why is everyone making fun of me for saying cherry i'm so confused oh yeah yeah cherry reds ew what the heck bro cherry is it like a meme i'm not getting it cherry reds it's probably the most

popular but i think that's for a very good reason because they're probably the best the reds they're reds sorry i meant when i said cherry i just think of red because cherries are red so that's just how my brain works sorry like that there's also purple cherries but I am but I'm curious if someone can like yeah okay so here go yeah cherries are like the basic switches I mean yeah so I think it's right I think like back in the day if you had cherry you were like the ish right and now as we progress to more nerdery and like you know my new differences between keyboards and like keyboard switches cherry has

become the default, right? It's like, you get cherry because you just want, like, a mechanical keyboard that does the clicky clacks and doesn't feel like a butt, right? But, like, it's one of those things there's like, it's like having a Honda, right? Like, hundas are great. They're going to go a million miles, right? You'll never do anything to them. You don't even need to change oil in them, right?

I haven't changed the oil in mine like five years, right? It still works. It's no problem with it. Probably change your oil then. No, it's good, right? change your oil and fix your license plate yeah

and I think like once you get to that point where you're like being like a super nerd about like actuation points and so on and so forth then you like start swapping out stuff and then it's like a never ending this sounds better this is better it's okay so this is what it is right

and get ready for this y'all you all can clip this I'm about to drop a super hot take okay people who are super in the keyboard board switches are like vapors but with their fingers. Their finger vapes. That's what they are.

You mean they're annoying millennials, Dennis? Talk to someone. Talk to someone who vapes, but like actually really vapes and it's like a quote unquote vapor and it's like in the quote unquote vapor community because I think it's super super super goofy, right? There's a way, hold on. It's almost the same thing. Oh yeah, dude.

Vave God. Come on. Vap God up in here represent. It's literally the same thing, right? because they're like, oh, I like this particular mod because it gives me this much air draw and the flavor isn't right, but there's literally like, you know,

they go into homage and wattage and voltage and voltage and like the type of like wicking material, is it cotton, is it rayon, is it blah blah blah, blah, right? It's literally the same thing. It's literally the same type of like my new fandom. People who vape are basically people who are super in the keyboard switches. I'm going to clip this and I'm going to put it on Twitter

and I'm going to see what people say they're finger vapes keyboard switches are finger vapes debate me on this I don't even know what to say after that I don't even know yeah I don't even know what the heck you just said I'm just sure

whatever you say Dennis I'm saying that all all fandoms once they get big enough and niche enough and like super intellect the nitty gritty end up being just like vapors, right? Where you can't not be around someone who like vapes at that level, right? A quote unquote God vapor without them telling you about the little tiny things, right? If you say, hey man, what keyboard do you have?

Oh, you know, I have a cool GMMK with, you know, some cool key caps, you know, some putting key caps in, KL box, whatever switches. And I leave it at that, right? But a super finger vapor, right? finger bait person are going to be like and I use this grade of lubing oil and it has you know you know this kind of this is to go super just go super into it just go super super super into it I guess you know hearing people clang on their keyboard is annoying like walking through a vape cloud so you in that sense you might be correct yeah it's like babe cloud for your fingers

exactly and burst did it correct right I use cryox 205 grade zero right to loop up his switches tell me that's tell me that doesn't sound like vaping stuff, right? I'm currently using a vapor ESO with a mesh coil that's at 1.2 oms. Like, tell me that's not the same thing. I guess you're right.

Tell me that's not the same thing, dude. Okay. I think you're right, but you should still change your oil. Okay. Next comment. Our next question. What is your favorite N60 product in white? at the puck. So I have a funny story about this. I was in a I was in a one-on-one meeting with

the, with my my boss's boss, Talley, right? We had her in the podcast a few episodes ago, and I was telling her about how amazing I think the puck is, right? And I think the puck is literally a marquee product for us, and we need to do more with it. And she was like, I have no idea what you're talking about. I didn't have a puck. Like, why don't I have a puck? So I have a need to get her a puck. Talley needs to learn. what's so amazing about the puck. I literally hold mine in my hand almost every single day. I want to get more.

I'm going to send tally a Montreal puck. It's a puck that is not magnetic and does nothing. And I'll tell you another story real quick about why I know the puck is the most amazing product that we have, that we are not utilizing to the fullest extent. There's someone in my apartment complex who works for a competitor of ours, right? I'm not going to say the company, right, but she works for her competitor. Super sweet lady, right? We talk all the time.

We walk our dogs together, right? And she's like, hey, you know, would you like some cool stuff, right? I'm kind of changing the story around. It's not the actual story. But anyway, she gave us some cool merch, right, from her company. And, you know, we told her, hey, you know, like, we would love to give you something too because you're the homie. What would you like?

First thing she said, I want to puck. It's like, I love that little thing you have. that goes on the computer to hang your headset, right? I was going to say keyboard. To hang your headset, I want one. I'm like, all right, we got you. She specifically asked for the puck. So that tells me, right, all anecdotal evidence is literally fact, right?

The puck is amazing. Here we go. Tally wants to know in the chat, who here loves the puck. I want to hear why it is so love. Tell me everyone. Everyone tell me. Okay. So while everyone's answering about why the puck is amazing, you have the next question.

What is your favorite way to celebrate pride? This is from who has this question? Dog. I think just donating and supporting different campaigns that I see typically is how I celebrate. I've been to like one pride event and I was like super young. And I barely remember it. I haven't gone to any pride events since. I'm not like a large crowd type person, to be honest.

But yeah, I just like showing support with the, you know, donations and sharing and whatnot. I don't know about you guys. I like Pride through in-game merch and in-game thing. So last year for Pride, Bungee did a special pin. See if you can find it. Bungie Pride Pin. And if you bought the pin, you also got a code. for a in-game, like, little emblem or something,

which I have, and I have a cool jacket that has both this Pride pin, and it also has the Black Lives Matter pin that they did last year as well. So about both of these, and they're on my cool garden of whatever jacket that I got from the game. I'm, like, blanking really hard right now.

That's why I like to do it. I like cool stuff in game. I am the kind of person who when I play a new game and it's free to play or they have like microtenance actions. I want to buy some of that cool stuff. I like buying cool skins and like cool things that kind of

make myself cosmetically look better than everybody else, right? Because everyone knows if you have a cool skin, you're better than everyone else in the game, right? And it makes you better, and it makes you a better player too. Yeah, skins do win games. They do. And And RGB gives you more frames, right? It's just kind of like, you know, it goes hand in hand.

Yes. General knowledge, yeah. Exactly. How do you like to celebrate pride? For me, I actually, I really enjoy, I don't want to say educating people, you know, dropping knowledge bombs. But just telling people like more about why we and ZXT as a company are even doing this. Because I have received questions from people that are like, why are you guys talking about this, you're a computer company, you know, like just so computer parts. And I love telling them,

you know, well, I'm glad you asked. That's a great question. The reason why is because, you know, these people are part of our community. And if someone's a part of our community, they deserve to be celebrated, right? And not just part of our community, but we have even staff members. And like, I love just telling people about the reasons why, you know, it's important to love one another. And I don't know. To me, it's not so much about, like, you know, getting Pride merch and things like that. Although I do like it, it's awesome. It looks cool.

I can't wait to get my mind. But I just like telling people more about, you know, what we're doing and why we do it, I guess. Right. I like that. That's great. E.N. 07385. Your favorite piece of N16 merch? I do really have a whole lot of merch, to be honest.

but I would say probably like merch like things that you can like you know there isn't like a actual product I think my favorite is probably the was it a teo who did the pants for the pop-up? The sitters.

Yeah. Are those actually the sitters? Yeah, I think so. Oh, okay. Well, you're definitely not jogging in them so. Yeah. They're really great. They're super comfy. they're really airy which I like a lot

they were kind of custom sitters is what Musu aka Alex says yeah no they're they're really great I wish you can get into the pair because uh because the like lettering is kind of like coming off a little bit but other than that they're really nice pants and they feel good and I like the little

I don't know what I'm doing some dumb but I like the little cord whatever it is the string the draw string to like to tie it up just feels good you know that's my favorite I've been a minute What's your guys' favorite NXT merch? And the hat, like a hat. Like hats.

Probably, I have an old NZXT hoodie with the old logo. And the reason why I like it is because, like, the old logo is one of the reasons why I even work at NGXT because that logo stood out to me. And I just thought it was so weird that, like, why, what the heck? How do you even pronounce that name and why is there a thought? there. Yeah, it's like, is it next? Is it next? Why is there a period? And it's like all these weird things. And that's not our logo anymore. So I don't know, it's just a cool, cool thing to have

in my collection, I guess. Amanda? Yeah. I like the pullover hoodie just because, you know, it's baggy and it's spacious. I mean, I have like an oversized one, but it's very soft, which is awesome. And then when I would be like going into the office. I'd just throw that on if I was being lazy and it's like, hey, this is my work uniform, you know? So that was like probably my favorite. I also liked the, we had the design by human NZXT t-shirts at one point, which I did like until the lettering started to work coming off. Yeah. So that was also good too. But yeah, I'd say the hoodie. The hoodie is like the best of our club merch in my opinion.

Hmm, I shouldn't think of other stuff. The new lanyard is nice, right? It's all shorter lanyard with a cool little design on it. I like that one a lot. I have a keychain. The keychain's pretty cool. I have my house keys on it. Oh, fancy.

Imagine to have an N-Zy-Lanyard and keychain? Oh, my God. That's crazy. All right. Next question. I'm in the wrong chat. I'm like, this is really, really long. The cat's doing stuff.

It's attacking its cat tree. Amanda, have you seen the Amanda show from Nickelodeon? I have seen it. My entire childhood was people singing the Amanda show theme song at me in recess, in the middle of class. Amanda, man, amen. And I'd just be like, please stop. I hate this. I don't like it.

I did watch the show all the time, though. So I love the show, but I did for some reason, it was like. like very annoying to me when people would do that even though i loved amanda bines and the show but um you know yeah no i'm i'm aware definitely aware we just got a hundred dollar donation on the fundraiser as well keeping us even i honestly i love that for us uh so we're at 560045 amazing please no troll please let's keep it this way please no troll please no troll Let's keep it this way. If you troll, I mean, I can't do anything, but I'll be upset.

I'll be upset. I don't think we want that. Trying to find something here. Don't mind me. Next question. Who is your favorite admin apart from B? Is it Dan or Poppy? You can only choose one.

And I don't do nothing no more on the server. Don't even... Wait, who are they asking? Me? I guess they're asking you, yeah. So I guess you're just assuming that you're like the best and then I want like your second best Well no no no I don't think that's the question. I don't think we're assuming I'm the best I mean they eliminated B from the equation right yeah well then I can't answer there you go

you ruined it there we go you found it no Why wasn't this our intro it's a pride cast I even think about it Let's start the podcast over, please. All right. End it here. Let's restart. Throw that in there. I'll say I like eggs.

And it'll be the Amanda show. I forgot that was the thing to the eggs. That show was so weird. It was like, you know, it's funny. I think that the Amanda show had more funny skits than SNL. I'm going to say. No, you're right. You're absolutely right.

I think that people forget that SNL's been around for a very, very, long time and their and their and their batting average I think if I'm using it the the the correct way is really bad like out of like hundreds and hundreds of skits I can name me like four or five and then even like the really big popular ones from like back of the day I don't even think are funny they don't hold up and I think that's that's like the mark of like good comedy right is this is is if it can stand the test of time and still be funny years later right I'd say that it wasn't funny back then It wasn't good back then

But looking at it now If it's not funny now Then like you know It's something good in the moment In which case it's probably a bad joke I feel like I haven't watched the Amanda's show in so long though If I were to rewatch it

I probably wouldn't find any of it to be funny Like I think it was just funny Because I was a kid And so many things were like easily funny Like Amanda would like come out on stage And be like I have bacon in my socks And then I'd like lose it And I'd be like crying

you know, out of laughter. And I don't think, like, in retrospect, that's actually funny. But, you know, as a kid, I'm like, this is dope. Why did I just laugh? Thinking about bacon in someone's socks. I mean, bringing the dancing lopsers. But anyways. All right.

Next question. That's links, links, links, links, links, links. who designs all the N60 stuff is the one person or a team? Yes. It's both. A little bit of both. Yeah. I mean, we have our creative team.

They come up with concept designs and, you know, they pitch things. And then if you're collaborating with them from, you know, a different team, you give your vision of what you would like, assuming it's a joint effort. And then, you know, they bring that to life. That's pretty much how the pride designs were made. Helen essentially pitched me like an idea and a sort of concept for pride and then we went through it together. So it's a collaborative effort, but they definitely do all the work. They do all the work for it. But yeah, that answers the question.

It does. Let's see here. Next question is, oh, my God, open up 50 things another. How much money has NZC donated on its own? It's from Drake. So last year we had a donation. I don't know how much that was Ivan, if you remember. $10,000 last year.

$10,000 last year. And there has not been a donation yet from NCXT. But stay tuned for that. We're letting everyone donate first and we'll come in later. With like an uneven number. No. Okay. I will lose it.

When we do that, it has to be even. Yeah, I'm going to throw up that tweet right now. I think we need to get this evened out, and I think the internet can help us. Okay. Are you guys down? Amanda, you down? Listen. Our biggest trolls are on Twitter.

I don't think that's a good idea. Can someone please even this out to a nice round number? And what is this? Oh, I don't know what happened to my screenshot there. Sorry about that, but what is this? Oh, yikes. Yeah, that's one. 56, 58, 37.

What is with the 37 cents? Sorry, Amanda, but I had to do it. You're not sorry, because you just did it. So what would you, what would you be sorry about? Okay. Are you guys ready? I think, I think Twitter's going to save us. What do you say?

Ivan, you down, Amanda, you down? I mean, throw it up there. I hope. I'm hoping. We'll see. All right, here we go. Let's see what happens. Okay.

Also, keep the questions coming, chat. If you think of anything, just keep it going. Keep asking me stuff. I love it. When will the Pride merch shipping start from Flut Shah? We will update with that. We'll have more information soon on exactly when that stuff is shipping out, but I don't have anything to share in this current moment regarding that.

All right. Can you send picks of Toby? I did already, but I, I mean, I can, you know, I can just spam some more pictures. He's asleep, though. He's turned away from me. It's very no talk. I'm angie vibe I'm getting right now.

Yeah. Probably because I keep waking him up from his nap. But, you know, I can try spamming some more pictures. I have so many Toby pictures in my phone. It's like probably 90% of my camera roll. It's ridiculous. I don't know why, but like, and it's like every, like, I see him all the time. I don't separate from this dog for like a second.

And yet I'll be like sitting at my desk and I'll just turn around and be like, oh, he looks cute right now. I'm going to take a picture. And I think the funniest part about it is that he's always like pretty much doing the same thing every time I decide to take the picture. Like it's never anything different. Like you would think after like 30 pictures of him sleeping on his bear, I would just stop.

But I need an endless supply. And then I also just spam my mom with them all day long. And I feel like it. gets to a certain point where she no longer has anything to add or say in return. Like, so the text message is just like five pictures of Toby and then nothing. Like the first one, it'll be like, oh, so cute. Like, is it being a good boy? And then I'll spam like 10 more.

And then she's just like, okay, I get it. You love your child. But yeah, I can definitely send more pictures in the chat for sure. All righty then. Next question is, do you watch? anime and if yes what is your favorite anime uh i so i wouldn't consider myself a watcher of anime to be honest um just because i mean i don't regularly watch it i've seen a couple uh i would say out of all of what i've seen so far i think samurai champlain was my favorite heck yeah um i'll rewatch that like 10 million

times and never get sick of it. Initially when I first watched it, I was like, what is this? This is so weird. Especially since, this is like really, really specific, but especially since like the way that they start that off with like the record scratches and like the theme song like totally doesn't match the vibe of the show in my opinion. So at first I thought it was pretty weird. But then I loved it and I've rewatched it since.

I'm currently trying to watch Demon Slayer. I got like two episodes in. I have to continue with that. It's very, very dramatic, like overly dramatic. So it's hard for me to be like, you know, take it seriously sometimes. But it's cool. And then I've also seen from Dennis's recommendation, full metal alchemist's brotherhood, I think it's called.

One of the greatest, if not the greatest shows ever. Yeah, I didn't finish it. But I got very close to finishing it. so I just need to, I'm very, like, I will jump around to different shows constantly. Like, right now I'm watching RuPaul's Drag Rees, but then tomorrow I might watch Ozard, but then the next day I might watch, you know, something else, right? So, like, I'm constantly bouncing between, like, a bunch of different stuff at once. I don't know why.

It's like, whatever the vibe is that night, I'm, like, feeling it. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is the hot show in my house. Oh, really? I haven't seen that one. It looks interesting. It looks a little weird. I would be done to check it out. Me personally, I'm a huge weave. I love anime. My favorite are Avatar, the last airbender,

Corey in the house, and King of the Hill. Nice. Okay. Great contribution. Really quick, though, I just want to say thank you to death, D-E-T-H. $0.63 cents two minutes ago. I hope this rounds it. It absolutely did. We are at 5660. Amazing.

No sense added. Instead of getting a troll, we got someone genuinely willing to help. Love that for us. Thank you very much for that. I just wanted to say that really quick. All right. Next question from Captain Cheese. What inspired you to join NZXT at Yashokin at Amanda?

So I met Ivan and he told me if you join this Discord server, I'll give you a job. so I did it. And that's how I ended up at NZT. Amanda? I'm sorry, repeat the question. Is it how I, like, why I decided to work at NXT? Well, I just started seeing NZXT regularly and I was not happy at my last job. And I was like, this seems like a cool opportunity. I'm going to check it out. I knew someone who worked at NCXT who was telling me about it and we met during like

when I was working on a like in an e-sports mentorship program so we chatted about it and I was like you know what I'm just going to throw my hat in the ring see what's up and I had like the longest interview process that I had ever had like on that day like I met with like how many people

There was you guys, Jared, Emily, Wes, Andy, Nicole. Like, I thought it was going for like an hour and it turned into like a whole day of interviews. Yeah, it was a little too much to be honest. I think that was like Dennis's like first week too. And I was like, hey man, you want to help me interview this chick? And he's like, sure. Was that like when you first started Dennis? Yeah, it was like literally the first week.

I'm like, why am I interviewing someone? And then I remember, I still remember, like, after talking to her, the first thing, the first thing that you said was, hey, I really like her. And I said, me too. We should hire her. And we did. And the rest is history. Exactly. Yeah. Yes. Love it. Okay. Does anyone want to know my origin story? Oh, yeah, sure. Sure. I bought a case on the NZXT website and I had a horrible experience. So I sent a complaint letter with my purchase. And then I received a reply back. I started talking to people about it.

And before I knew it, they were like, you know what? You're right. You should probably come help us fix it. And I was like, all right, cool. And I quit my last job. And I came over here. And that's basically it. It's kind of weird.

I've never had an experience like that. I literally complained and they got a job. So moral of the story is complain. I complain every single day. Yeah, I know. Okay. You shouldn't complain anymore. I agreed.

Maverick wants to know, I paid for a podcast question in gaming bots, lull. How big is NZXT by staff and how big is Y'all manage so well? And when do we get B? I'm not quite sure what the question is. Last I checked, we were a little over 300 people. all over the world. And for those that don't know, we just expanded into foreign new territories.

Australia, Italy, France, and Netherlands. Did we? Yes, no, we did. I'm liking super hard right now. How do we manage so well? I mean, I would like to know that as well, to be honest. I don't know. It's, you know, we're expanding a lot.

there's a lot of people, right? We're constantly re-evaluating what we can do better. It's definitely not perfect. It could definitely be better, but I think we manage with a lot of coffee, a lot of passion, and a lot of anime. Which is why Ivan doesn't manage so well, because he doesn't watch anime.

I told you, I'm a huge weed, man. I have a Netflix subscription. He watches one anime, and all of a sudden, he's like, he's like, anime God. Mushu Beef wants to know. What's your favorite food, Amanda? Oh, sorry. Hold on.

Last part of the question. When do we get B? I don't know. We're figuring it out. We'll a lot, a lot going on. And she will be on soon. Stay tuned. Get us to a million followers on Twitter and we'll do it.

Wow. There we go. Okay, Musu Keev wants to know, Amanda. What's your favorite food? And why is it canoli? Why is this such a difficult question? Why would you even ask me this? Why is it rigatoni?

What's my favorite? What? What's your favorite food and why is it rigatoni? What is my favorite food? I mean, I love all food. I mean, I know that's a cop out, but I really do love a lot of different food. But I guess like, you know, I really love all different kinds of pasta. And I love Korean barbecue. you.

Yeah, but I'm like, I'm a little bit of a foodie. I like a lot of stuff. Amanda's like, I love pasta. I love anti-pasta. What? Anti-pasta. Yes. You know, true.

One time Amanda actually told Dennis and myself, in all seriousness, rigatoni is life. I'll never forget that. No, I said, no, you got it wrong. I said rigatoni is culture. Oh, yeah, Rigetone is culture. Rigotonia's culture. And I stand by that statement to this day, put it on my tombstone.

Love it. That's how I want to be remembered moving forward. Thank you. All right. Mandy, you still got more time or are we coming to a close now? I think we, I mean, we have a few more questions. We could just run through, not pin anything else, but just kind of get these last few ones. Then I can head out.

Number questions, folks. next one from Amelia. What is your comfort, streamer, YouTube show, slash anything you do to calm yourself? Video games. Video games for me. I mean, I, yeah, I'll definitely play a video game for comfort or calming myself.

But as far as, like, streamer to just throw up, like, during the day, like, if I'm doing other stuff, I wouldn't say, like, it's very calming. But I do love Hasanabi. Really, really, really awesome Twitch streamer. I will grab the link actually to, I think he's live right now. But he is a political streamer. But he also plays games.

And I just love, you know, I just love listening to him while I'm working, doing other things. He has, you know, great takes on a lot of issues and super cool guys. So yeah, that's kind of like, and I also love, I also love Lyric too. I'll watch Lyric any, anytime. any day, but yeah. I don't really watch too much streams anymore. I mean, I'll throw Hassan up every now and then, but there is a moment in time where he was playing GTA RP all the time.

And whenever I would tune in, he would be playing that. And I don't, there's a million people that I can watch play video games. And, like, the reason why I followed him, the reason why, like, I enjoy him is, is because I like his, like, political commentary, social commentary type of stuff. And, like, watching and play video games is, like, not what I'm there for. But I recognize that, you know, that's, you know, that's, you know, that's something he likes and something people like, but, you know, I mean, I can watch. Actually doesn't play it anymore, but yeah.

Oh, he doesn't? No. He's not, he's not on RP. He's mostly, mostly politics, react videos and things like that. Back to his like normal stuff. Every once in a while, it'll throw up a game. Like, he was playing a Mario Odyssey, I think. But it's like the very end of his stream.

Like I'd say he's back to the majority of his streams being like political content and stuff like that. he needs to finish Dark Souls since finish that game I mean technically I'm on I'm on board with him saying that technically he did finish it

if it's an optional boss does that really mean that that that's the way that you finish the game I'm not so sure I'm not convinced but he didn't finish the whole game as a way I see it right

like you could you could play okay so for example right fallout some of the best fallout like three quests are off the beaten path right and you could say that okay no no even better mass effect right mass effect right mass effect's but i'm because it's a linear RPG right you could play through all a mass effect and miss a couple of really really good side quests and to me that's not finishing the game because i feel like in like a lot of these games where there's like a beginning and middle and end right the side stuff is what really shows off what the game is about and what the game is capable of right

the witcher is the same way there's a lot of really good side content that if you don't look for it or if you don't follow the little breadcrumbs to get to it you're missing some really really amazing pieces of storytelling and you're you're kind of like you're you're a lesser gamer for not having played it in a sense of like you don't experience like what the media can do is my thought. So he should finish that. He should finish that optional boss. Interesting take. Not sure that I agree, but really quick, just wanted to shout a few things out. Josh Kaye from our marketing team just donated $100 and a single cent. All right. I didn't want to take this as a personal attack, but starting to think it is. And I'm I'm upset. I'm not sure why you did that.

but anyways say beans donated $50 no sense okay uh and then joseph torgo donated a hundred dollars proud of my sister with a heart um you didn't have to do that also don't make me cry on this podcast um but yeah just wanted to shout out some recent donations we're at 5900 now uh in a cent which i which i don't appreciate but we are extremely close to hitting $6,000. Just wanted to shout that out. I don't know if anyone else is thinking of donating, but we're so close to hitting that.

Also, if you're going to do it, please keep it even. But yeah, just wanted to take some time to talk about that. Is it just me or is this podcast given anyone else, like Jerry Lewis telephone vibes? I mean, let's have some callers in here. Let's have Josh Kaye on the, call please sir why did you donate an extra cent i might be able to finagle him joining in if you guys

want if he wants to raise a hand i'll take some callers i'll take some collars i might actually be able to make that happen he said no let's see here i think i can turn on request to speak and maybe throw it on in my break so just FYI FYI FYI isles in my break so just letting you guys know um yeah okay so while while that's going on I'll just let everyone know on the internet that we're literally one cent from being round. Can't imagine, you know. Someone being so rude on purpose like that.

All right. Next question is, do you guys like horror movies? I'll have hot takes on this. I love horror movies. Probably my favorite trauma. Honestly, this is why we need callers. We need B in here. She's been trying to force us all.

to watch horror movies. She loves them so much. I'm not a horror movie type of person per se. I mean, I like the classics or what I guess I consider the classics. So like Halloween, Friday the 13th, stuff like that. So like I'll watch like the AMC Fear Fest and stuff like that every Halloween. But I'm not like, oh, like a new horror movie is out. I have to go to the theater where I need to turn this on and watch it. I get scared very easily. I think the last horror movie that I watched in the movie theater was The Conjuring, which actually wasn't that scary, but since it was in a dark theater, I feel like it made it scarier. And also just people screaming every time there was like a jump scare didn't help.

But that was, yeah, that was the last one I watched in theaters. But I'm not like a huge horror movie person, honestly. I am. And for me, I love gory movies. All those movies you name, like Halloween and whatnot, like the classics, they don't scare me. I love them. They're great, but I don't find them scary because they're very unrealistic. Although Halloween is probably the most realistic of all the classics, you know, because it's literally like a real dude.

But I like gory movies. My favorite horror movie is called Inside. You guys get a chance. Please watch it. If you like horror, that is. Or gory horror. I don't know. I don't know why I've always liked horror movies.

Probably something wrong with me, but I love them so much. Hmm. Interesting. Big poggers in the chat, folks. I didn't know that about you. I also found out that, like, I love bitter, bitter things. Like, I love bitter coffee, for example. And I found out that there was, like, this research study that people who, like,

bitter stuff are, like, more prone to be serial killers, apparently. I don't know. I'm not saying I'm a serial killer. but I don't know I have this fascination with like horror movies for some reason I don't know what it is I just like them

this took such a turn I honestly was not expecting a conversation about actually I mean I guess it makes sense a conversation about horror movies talking about serial killers I guess it all connects in the end but I just wanted to say really quick that we reached

$6,000 on the fundraiser Thank you, Talley. Yay for 6K. Nice work, everyone. You all are amazing. Happy pride. Yeah, happy pride. I think that's honestly a great way to close this out. You also made it even, so I don't want to encourage anyone to make it odd anymore. I'm so over it. Please stop. But it's like Christmas. It's like Christmas. Yeah, definitely. But yeah. All right. Any parting words, Ivan and or Amanda. Yeah, I just want to thank everyone for tuning in, for donating. And I also want to give an extra special shout out to Amanda for like, you know, planning and organizing and coordinating everything we got going on for pride. It's awesome. So thank you. Yeah, I just want to say happy pride.

Thanks everyone here for supporting the campaign, even if it was to troll me specifically. every donation is helpful and yeah I'm super happy that we reach 6K I mean when we started this I think we're at like 5,400 so that's super awesome and yeah feel free to share the campaign feel free to check out all of our other activities that we're going to have on

for the month and yeah thank you guys so much all righty then so last minute announcements real quick just want to let everyone know so we did launch in three more territories is four, three, four more territories. Netherlands, France. I'm going to forget one. Netherlands, France, Australia, and what's the last one even?

It's another one? Netherlands. France. Italy, Italy. Italy. Australia. And so if we do have social media accounts in Europe and we are doing a giveaway for our, our friends down under.

So if you want to win a PC and you live in Australia, click the link in the chat right now. Yes. If you are a kangaroo wrangler, you are eligible for this one. Also, we just launched the N7 Z590. We just got to let everyone know. I bought this stuff of y'all going on. That's why it's at the very, very end. It's not the first thing, right?

So, you know, check out the new motherboard for the new Intel board. An Australia giveaway, like Evan said, and that's pretty much it. So I just want to get through that real quick just to make sure that everyone knows what we got going on. Thank you for joining us, Amanda. I really appreciate it. Thank you. All right. And thank you to everybody who tuned in.

Remember to tune in next week at 10 a.m. Pacific 10-A-N-N-C-D-Riber and follow at N-Z-C-D-Rever and follow at N-X-T-Rew-T-Rew-T-Rew-T-Rew-T-Rew-N-X-T-ROT-E. And if you want to ask a question off the air, send an email to Clubcast at nz-X-T.com. That email, once again, is CLU-B-C-A-S-T-A-S-T-T-com. And don't forget to listen to previous episodes on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and SoundCloud.

And if you can leave a positive review on your iTunes of choice, because apparently iTunes is only one that allows you do reviews, I think. Maybe Android, Android podcast, whatever's called. Robot Podcast. Samsung Podcast.

Leave us a review if you like what you hear, but especially if you don't. With that, guys, we'll see you next time. Thank you very much. Bye. No, you're good. You're good. I was doing stuff in the background. Thanks, Amanda.

Appreciate it.