NZXT PODCAST - #138 - Struggles of Being Mixed Race (Ft. Andy Johnston)

Episode Date: October 6, 2022

On this week's Hispanic Heritage Month edition of the NZXT podcast, we chat with Andy Johnston, NZXT's Global PR Manager! We talk about the issues of being mixed, from being ostracized from each side to not feeling like you belong anywhere. Also, where does extra medium land on the scale of XS to XL? Follow Andy on Twitter! twitter.com/MrSlyGuyInDaSky Tune in live every Thursday at 10AM PT on twitch.tv/NZXT and send your questions to: [e-mail]

Hello, everyone, and welcome to episode 138 of the N60 podcast, the official podcast of the N6C community. This podcast is recorded live every Thursday at 10 a 10-N-Pacific standard time on the official NXC Twitch and is available to stream on demand on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and SoundCloud. My name is Mike, and with me, as always, is Ivan. Ivan, how are you doing today? I am doing fantastic, Mike. I'm very excited to have probably the person. who has been on the podcast the most besides you and I, and we're the host. So Andy, welcome once again to the NZXE podcast.

Before we get started with your interview, please let us know, what country are you representing today for Hispanic Heritage Month? Mexico. Mexico, but just like me, we're Paisanos. And we do have a lot of questions to ask you. about Hispanic Heritage Month. But before we do that, for those of people that don't know who you are,

maybe they're new listeners, maybe they haven't listened to your, what, dozen podcast appearances by now, please let us know, what is your job title, and what is it that you do at NZXT? I am, well, my name is Andy Johnston. I am the global PR manager here at NZXT.

I've been here a little over four years, and I do a lot. I basically coordinate all our launch messaging, strategy, reviews, reviews seating, communicating with reviewers across all platforms. So whether it be PC Gamer to Linus Tech Tips to Carter PCs on TikTok,

I have communication with a lot of people. and I send people a lot of stuff and kind of help them review our products and get the most the best information and kind of give them our side of the story of why we make this product

and why is it good for certain people and then they go from there whether they love it or hate it I try to put our products in the best light as I can and give it context so if anyone wants free stuff please contact Andy Yes.

Yeah, I love it. I love it. I love when people message me about free stuff. You know what's funny is I think a lot of people think that Mike and I are, have your power, you know, because people ask me and Mike like for sponsorships for, you know, like, you know, like free stuff. Like I get some free stuff we do have, but not to the extent that you don't have the power. are that Andy holds basically. Like Andy is the one, like you said, make sure

all the reviewers get get what they need and things like that. So you're a very important man at NZXT, Andy. That explains the mustache. Yeah, the mustache shows my importance. Yes. So to continue on, so before you started

working at NZXT, what did you do? Okay, so I was in school a lot. I went to Cal State Fullerton to get my bachelor's. Like me? And then I started going into the workforce. It was very hard to get a job.

It's still very hard to get a job, but I feel like it was a little harder back in when I was in college because that was coming out of the Great Recession and places didn't really like hiring and especially young kids with no experience. So I went, back to school and got my MBA.

Then, while doing that, I, you know, just did some odd jobs, like an intern in marketing at some, like, financial advisor. And I worked at a blog. And I think that's helped me with this job that wrote about Disney stuff. I kind of covered the Disney video game aspect of it and ran their podcast. So I know, I know Mike's struggle in pain of producing. a podcast. And then I worked at In-N-N-Out,

as merchandise department as just kind of a grunt, so to speak. I got an opportunity to work at In-N-Out and not at the store-store. And what was interesting is the people who work at In-N-Out work at In-N-Out for, they're like Supreme Court justices. Like, once you're in, you're in for life.

and they pay super well. The good thing about it is it's like, we ended at 4.30, then once we're done, we're done, and we don't have to think about work. And they were very, you know, very strict about, like, if you're done at 430, let's go, go, go, go. And then they do treat their employees really well. Like, store manager and in-and-out probably makes over 100,000,

dollars, which is insane. And then general managers make probably over $250,000. Are you serious? I'm serious. All right, y'all, we're quitting our jobs. We're going to work at him out. I'm filling up the online application right now. Yeah.

Yeah, it's surprising. Like, people make fun of flipping burgers, but they make probably more money than you, like, which is crazy. I live down the street from an in and out. And like every day, man, like the line just goes around the block. People love those burgers. So I mean, I guess it has. Well, I guess like the people that work there, you know, they have good job security because they're busy all the time.

The thing about what I think In and Out does well is it's just simple. Like, and the menus basically hasn't changed for the most part. Like when I was working there, like, we added hot chocolate. tour menu. And that's because they're expanding to Colorado. I don't know if they have or they're talking about it. This is pre-COVID,

so who knows? And it was like somewhat of a big deal because they hadn't added a new menu item and God knows long. But the menu is just, it's simple, it's cheap, it isn't the best burger,

but I think for the amount of money you pay, it's better than like a Carl's Jr. Burger, or Hardee's, if you're in the Midwest. And Hardy's burgers are freaking expensive and not as good. And I think it just goes down to, they just make burgers. They don't, and fries. And they don't really...

Speaking of fries, Andy, I heard it really... You've never eaten a French fry. Is that true? Never, ever. No, I haven't eaten a French fry. No, I haven't eaten a fresh fry in 10 years because I can't really eat five. No, that's too long.

Like, maybe seven years? Why can't you eat fries? I just, I can't eat fried food. Just do it in my health. Oh, okay. Just any fry food in general. Okay. Any fried food.

Okay. I was like, do you have an event? I shouldn't eat it. But I specifically haven't really had like fries in a restaurant. Who knows long? I'm going to give Andy a French rice to grilly one day to see what happens. Is it any sort of fry food? or is it oily

bad food oily bad food okay yeah I had a small heart attack when he said you haven't had a French fry and forever I was like why what is what

there has to either be health reasons because there's no logical explanation behind that yeah I mean I could and I think Ivan more I think you've probably seen me eat and drink

I can't confirm I have seen you eat and drink I can I, if I really wanted to, I think it could be a competitive eater. Like, the amount of, I can eat so quickly. Like, the thing is, I don't think I'm eating fast. But everyone around me is just eating, like, let's say we're at Chipotle. And they're just eating their, you know, their burrito.

I could probably eat it less than five minutes. And, you know, people. I'll never forget, like, the first time. Andy and I met up post-COVID at the office. I told him like, hey man, it's about to eat. We haven't seen each other in like a year, basically. Like, let's go to Domestic, which is like the, a popular MZXT spot around here.

It's a barbecue place. It's delicious, yeah. So we get there and domestic is closed that day because I think it was a holiday or something. And then Andy casually mentions, oh, that's all right. I can't eat barbecue anyway. well you probably should have told me that before he came over no it was it was it was the it was the pizza place well no no so then i told him hey there's a there's a hot chicken pizza and pizza place down the

street let's go check that place out so andy goes okay so then we go over there and then we walk inside you know i ordered my food i ordered my uh my hot chicken or whatever and then i asked andy where are you going to get and he goes i don't know i can't really eat eat this food Why do you tell me that before we came here, man? But then he proceeded to order like a pizza of like a full-sized pizza for like, you know, a family of four or whatever. And as I'm eating my chicken sandwich, like he legit ate that whole pizza. And I was shocked. I've never seen a human eating entire pizza in that quick amount of time.

So I can definitely confirm Andy can be a competitive eater. But what's interesting too is like Andy's not a, he's not like a really big dude or anything. He's like a normal, normal size human like a, like a Kobayashi. You know, you look at that Kobayashi guy and that guy eats like 100 pot dogs.

He's like, you wouldn't think he would be like the world's greatest eater. Yeah. It's just like a normal dude. He's a little like husky, but it's like kind of the buff fat vibe. Yeah. And you can put down some water too, man.

I've seen you guzzle like gallons of water open. Yeah, like that, I low-key joke, my most likely cause of death is probably water poisoning. Like, I, it's just one of those things that are just, like, I use this story a lot. I was camping with my family once, and I used to be in Boy Scout, so I had like a camelback. And it was a three-liter camelback.

And since it's just a water with a hose, essentially, it might as well just make it an IV and it's just injected into my veins. But since it's just there and there's nothing stopping you, you know, it's just like a guzzle, you know, just down, down your throat. I had three three-liter waters before noon and right before a hike. I was very hydrated, but I did not feel great. right and had to stop go pee every 10 seconds

but yeah that probably wasn't the smartest thing I've done. Probably not. But I'm still here talking to you so nothing matters. So to get back on topic did you always

want to work in PR slash the gaming industry? I don't know to be on it's like it's one of those things I did business because I thought that was probably the most in college practical thing to do because the stuff is one of those things like marketing was what I studied in undergrad and grad school is one of those things where it still piques my interests but and it is a passion

of mine but it's not the thing I like truly wanted to do because the thing I would truly want to do would be like anthropology or history my minor was actually an anthropologist and I was really good at it. Like, my GPA and undergrad is inflated by my minor because I didn't do as good as in my business courses, but anthropology, like, I never got anything less than an A. But, like, marketing kind of has some anthropological, at least on the cultural stuff. And, like, it's basically trying to get human, you're trying to get into the psychology of a person and understand why they would want to. buy things and kind of play into that. But when I was at the blog, a lot of people did PR

and then actually one of my colleagues, when he left the blog, he got a job at Razor and doing Razor's PR, and I'm like, that's actually really kind of cool. Then basically a lot of the people at the blog were PR people. And I'm like, why don't I do that? And then here I am.

That's a great still. So in your time at NZXT, what has been the most challenging thing about your job? That's a good question. I think it's just keeping track of who I talk to. Because as I've grown into this role, I probably talk to over like 100 people. And then I'm not exaggerating.

There's a lot of people I talk to in the media and YouTube. You mean 100 people on a regular basis just consistently? Roughly. Like some more than others, obviously, because I don't, like, usually the more traditional websites. So like your PC gamers, CNETs, blah, blah, blah. They don't, they don't, those are more professional-ish relationships. where you talk to email so you're not talking to them on a constant basis.

But one of the things that I've learned is email sucks and email sucks at building relationships because there's just weird formality to email because whenever you email someone, you're like, I hope this email finds you well. You know, at NZXT we have new products that we think we, you know, like no one

no one really cares to be honest. because they get inundated with emails all the time. So, like, if I break through with an email and then I feel like this person is cool enough or would mind a relation, like, to basically take it off email and either talk via Discord or Twitter DMs. Like, Twitter is actually kind of important for my job because I talk to a lot of people through Twitter DMs because... Hopefully Elon doesn't delete it. I know. but like but but like low key

a conversation via discord or Twitter like it a fastened it makes it things a lot faster because it's obviously a faster form of communication and you can it's like basically you can get a month's worth

of emails in like a 10 minute discord conversation because people don't always answer their emails too. So a lot of the time you just send an email and then you do a follow-up. It's like, hey, did you see my email? And then, you know, but but with

a DM, it's just so much easier because then you can just actually talk about stuff outside of what you're doing. Yeah. So for like, you know, you're like, hey, how are you doing? And then good. And then, you know, then

the small talk leads into a friendship potentially. Or not friendship, like friendship more so as like just more. Casual? Yeah, more casual and just you build better relationships. And like you can cut through a lot of the BS of just like when pitching a product. You don't have to like write some brilliant pros. I think that's the right word.

You know, and just you could just say, hey, we got something. You interested? And they're like, yeah, tell me. and then, you know, I go into the features of whatever, versus just, like, hoping they answer. Now that they know, like, and I'm cool, you know, it kind of just builds more trust in the relationship. Interesting.

So it seems like you have a lot of different things with your job, but on the opposite side of, like, how challenging it is, what is, like, what you consider, like, the most fun part? Talking to people. because because I mean some of the conversations I have with people hold on I like how the most challenging thing about your job is keeping track of when you talk to and the most fun thing is talking with people

because it is fun like like but it gets to be a lot like like especially because I don't know if everyone's noticed we've been releasing a lot of products in the past six months Yeah, you're just the Twitter guy. And, you know, it's just like, I'm sending this one to this person, this one to this person, and then some people get everything. Then I just get to a point in like, hey, did I send you this? Because I don't remember that I sent you this.

But can you confirm that you got this? Because I remember talking to you about this. And I like, oh, yeah, I got that. I'm like, okay, cool, sorry. It's just, it gets a little hard to keep track of everything at all the time. But somehow I manage. So we know the most challenging thing is keeping track that we're talking to. The most fun thing is talking to people.

So what has been the best experience you've ever had while working at NBC besides this podcast, Amy? Pre-COVID it was the travel. because, and this goes back to talking to people, I can make an argument that every time that I've traveled, I've gotten better at my job. Because, again, my job is to meet people and know people and kind of, you know, using that to help get coverage of our products. And I'm sure have you met this because when you send emails to someone

you're nothing really to that person. You don't have a face. They don't know what you look like. They don't know how tall you are. They don't really see you in space. You're just words to them. And once you meet someone in person, and this is why DMs kind of emulate that,

it makes the relationship better because they can, if you'll trust you more, because they know you're not a scumbag trying to, you know, you're just not a scumbag trying to scam them. Like, you know, you're a legit person who hopefully is cool. And a lot of the people I meet are really cool. Like, I've developed some, you know, really cool relationships throughout working this job.

And I always, yeah, like I said, the travel is fun. and doing appearances like this because I was on TV, which was pretty fun. And I was on the Blizz or not BlizzCon, QuakeCon, other company convention. I was on a QuakeCon stream, and it was fun. I like talking to people and I like, you know, just being out there. So, yeah. Nice.

So for those that want to actually work in either PR or gaming industry, do you have any advice for them if they want to get into these things of going to these events and talking to, you know, very, very famous public figures and stuff like that? Do you have any advice? I think one of the biggest things is really know the industry that you're getting into. And then in terms of like, if you want to work with media, kind of learn about the media. And that's why Twitter is very invaluable to me.

Like, I don't really like social media. Sorry, guys, but it's true. Neither do we. Yeah, how do we? Yeah, like, I like, for TikTok, for instance. Like, last night, I was trying to get into Overwatch 2, and all my TikToks were about, like, it was literal doom scrolling.

They're about like, oh, nukes, nukes, nukes. And I was like, oh. Okay. I don't, I don't really, I'm not into this. But, I mean,

Twitter can be like that, but the beauty about Twitter is, it's just basically, it's like, I think they call it the public square. I've heard that term. And you kind of start learning who media personalities are,

and then you follow them, and kind of get to know who they are and what they cover. And I always just, like, I guess I always love watching press events because I like I love Apple I love Nintendo I love Sony

and whenever they throw a press event I also just love technology so I love like you know I love tech I just love the pageantry I guess of announcing stuff because it can be super hype because like nowadays it's not as hype because everything gets leaked beforehand

but when one of the coolest things it's like at like at an E3 for instance you know you're watching a Nintendo direct

then at the end and they go oh they got one more thing and you're like what is that thing what is that thing then you know you see like

the link's hand come out of nowhere and then the you know then the Zelda music you can see you can see Mario today

the Mario trailer that's right I'm I don't know. That'll be interesting. I just want to know what it sounds like. But, but, you know,

it's just really fun and it gets me excited. And I always just been, because I love gaming and I love technology, always have been on the forefront of just hearing things being announced. And it's just a lot of fun. I'm not going to lie. And I enjoy it. So I guess you just have to be passionate about,

I think the industry or any industry that you're going into whether if you do PR for a pharmaceutical company or PR for John Deere you just have to I think be passionate about it and kind of just know the ins and outs of everything some good advice well Andy

thank you for telling us about your job what you do and dispense in some the career advice of those listening. Now it's time to get into the Hispanic Heritage Month portion of the podcast here. I guess the first question I have for you is kind of like the elephant in the room. Johnston is not a traditional Mexican or Spanish last name. Can you elaborate on how you identify as Mexican? So I'm half Mexican.

and my dad's last name is obviously Johnston but my mother's this is a question on a security thing like what your mother's maiden name my mother's maiden name is Garcia so you wait wait wait wait you're Andy Garcia like the actor no I guess if I went by my mother's name I could be

that's awesome the other yeah so that's really interesting man what what was it like growing up being half Mexican and half American or you're like I'm assuming your dad's American

well he yeah he's you know just European mixed you know but he's well what's the word he's just a white guy I love my dad but you know he's just this standard American

dude. It was very interesting because I think my experience of being Hispanic, I think could resonate with some people because my family hit it a lot. Because my grandpa's name was Gustavo, but he went by Gus.

And on my mom's side of the family, my grandma and grandpa were born in Laredo, Texas. and like which is a border city near the Rio Grande I think it's in like south west Texas and like they they eventually moved to California but

they kind of made the calculation when growing up that and you know evolving that they had to suppress it due to discrimination And that has affected me a lot because as someone who is Mexican, I don't feel Mexican, if that makes sense.

And people who are Mexican kind of deny that I'm Mexican. Like, you're not Mexican. I'm like, yeah, I am. Like, you're a white dude. And I'm like, yeah, I am white, but I'm also Mexican. And that was actually my next question for you Is do people have like a super hard time Believing that you're a part of Mexican?

Very very so And it's weird I guess I've never Fully talked about it But I have a friend who's really Mexican And he's like And he'll be saying something like But you're like you're half

It doesn't really matter Or like kind of thing And it's just like Well not to sound like It's not my fault that I am the way I am because like again with my grandpa his name was Gustavo

and I think he spoke Spanish but and he might have had an accent I never saw it because when I saw him he well when I met my grandpa he was in his 60s obviously so that's you know a full life

but according to my mom like they like my grandpa spoke Spanish and like kind of forced himself to be more American

and yeah like that it's weird because no one has given me shit about being Mexican but I remember there's this one memory I have when I was very young my next door neighbor

we're learning about basically discrimination and then I was like, I'm white and he goes, no, you're not. You're, you're darker. But so like, I mean,

that was kind of the only time I remember a white person saying I wasn't white enough. And then, you know, people going like, oh, you're not Mexican enough. So, but granted,

I benefited from being white because, you know, there's a thing called white privilege. But, um, I don't know, it's just a weird space to be in because it's it's like i am white passing and you know i don't get as much as discrimination

as a you know people who look and speak fully or who are fully Hispanic but there's just this weird that like you're not good enough for both communities for the most part yeah and you know it's as you were telling your story i was thinking of my own childhood and upbringing because for me like I'm full Mexican. Both my parents born in Mexico, I'm first generation Mexican-American. But, like, I'm also very tall. I'm very light-skinned.

You know, I don't feel like the stereotypical, I guess, view of what a Mexican should, quote-unquote, look like. So when I was a kid, I had memories too where, like, Mexican-American kids just like me, you know, they would give me grief because I wasn't brown enough or because I was tall, you know, things like that. And I think Paulini here in the chat kind of hit the nail right in the head. Or, you know, it just sucks when people gatekeep identities like that.

Because you are who you are. And it's like, it's not up to someone else to say, well, you're not that because I think you should be like this. Yeah. And what was interesting just kind of hinted at it, but like, my grandparents hid our Mexican identity to my mom for a long time. And she didn't even fully know she was Mexican until way late in her life. They just said we were from Spain, which, I mean, I felt kind of weird, but my, you know,

that's what my mom told me then when, It was like kind of a big deal to my mom when my grandparents or my grandma admitted to her that she was Mexican. Yeah, I mean, life changing. Yeah. Because I was told I was like from Spain. So I was like, oh, okay, cool. But that wasn't the truth. So why?

Do you know exactly why? I know you said that she didn't really understand. But do you have any guesses of why? I don't know. I guess one of those things, it's like a decision that my grandparents made many years ago that affected my mom and I guess it affected me. But it was just like, oh, I'm Mexican, okay. And then it just kind of, I don't, it just just had to partially change who I thought I was.

So speaking of that, do you speak Spanish or understand? at least? I was never taught it by my family. So my grandma speaks Spanish pretty well. Like, I would go to the farmer's market with her and she would talk to a lot of the workers in Spanish. And I was just sit there going like, but I took two years of high school and it was really bad at it. Gotcha. So I just saying, so you speak Spanish, but do you have any other like actual traditions, like Hispanic or Mexican traditions?

No, to be honest. Like, that's the thing, because, like, if you were to look at my grandma side of the family or my mom's side of the family, we're probably the whitest Mexicans in the world. Like, literally my aunt is pale and partially because she puts on, like, sun's screen and wears a lot of sun protectors.

Like, when we would go to, on vacation with my aunt, like, in Hawaii, um, she, she would, like, basically, like when we're at the pool, cover herself so she wouldn't get any sort of tan. And she would wear colored contacts to change her eyes.

Well, so you don't, you don't really speak or understand Spanish that much and you don't partake in traditional Mexican fictition. But do you think that you'll ever want to explore your Mexican heritage fraylor, like visiting Mexico or learning more about, like maybe what your grandparents are from and the little Texas and things like that? Yeah, that's the thing because it's like, that's the thing I feel like I have lost out on that a lot.

You know, like, it's just, I haven't had that, like, you know, all these wonderful traditions that they have. Because, you know, we just basically is it anglicized ourselves? I think that sounds right and like we

you know we don't we're just basically Americans like you know like a lot of the Mexican traditions or just went out the window and part of me is sad because it's like I don't want to you know

kill a part of my heritage just to be assimilated essentially. But it was just, again, decisions that were made. And I don't think they were made for the wrong reasons, but just due to society, my grandparents felt the need to blend in and not draw attention to themselves

due to discrimination. Because my grandpa worked in aerospace, and I assume that there weren't a lot of Mexican men as aerospace engineers. Did you know that Thomas Edison? said was Mexican. I did not know that. That's really cool, actually.

He was? Yeah, and he actually had, he, like, changes his whole identity because, like, for what you said right now, like, there's a lot of, like, racism, you know, a long time ago for, like, certain ethnicities,

working in certain career fields. Where it's like, oh, you're Mexican, you can't work on a space shit, you know? And that's what my grandpa did. He worked on, he worked in aerospace. He, he I think worked for Howard Hughes.

He did work for NASA and maybe some other stuff I don't. And for the government in a more clandestine nature, I would believe. But I think he worked on the Challenger from what he told me way back when. And the reason I know Thomas Edison was Mexican is because he's actually born, he was born in the same state that my dad is from Sakatecas. So my dad's always been like Thomas Edd He's been super proud of that fact

Like because my dad's an electrical engineer Or he's retired now But he was an electrical engineer Which is also not like a common You know Mexican For your cat he can say And for him like his hero has always been Thomas Edison

He looked up to him a lot You know If he's Mexican he can do it So can I kind of thing So he's like My dad's like the only one in his family That even went to school Yeah

And that means like And that I'm talking about talking about elementary school, you know, like his siblings didn't even go to elementary school because they had to work. And, yeah, so that's really interesting. Speaking of Mexicans, Andy, is it true that your girlfriend is Mexican? She is, yeah. Do you enjoy, like, participating in, like, Mexican activities with her or her family? I don't know if you guys do, but if you do, do you? I think the biggest embrace of Mexican culture has been the food.

My family, my dad's one of the best cooks around. Like he can grill a steak, like the best of them cook a, like a beautiful pastry. He actually used to work at a bagel shop. I think I told our boss that. I'm sure our boss would love that. I think she knew that. But more recently, we've been cooking more like Mexican dishes and like going into Mexican markets and buying more Mexican ingredients

ingredients instead of just, you know, eating, I guess, whatever American food is. Yeah. You have a favorite dish? I love fajitas, but I don't know how. You know, that's funny you say that, because technically fajitas are not a Mexican food. Yeah, I was going to say, I don't know how Mexican it is. Yeah, I think they're considered text mix, but they were invented in.

But, I mean, I just love vegetables. So fajita vegetables are like kind of my favorite thing in the world. Oh, yeah, fajitas originally in Texas. But that's kind of the thing is like the blending of cultural. as, you know, people immigrate and kind of bring what they know into a new area and then kind of create a new cuisine. But food is always the best. Do you think there should be not necessarily more emphasis, but maybe like more awareness about mixed heritage during events like Hispanic heritage in London? Hispanic Heritage Month, but you know, there's also, you know, Native American Month,

Asian American Month, et cetera. And I know there's a lot of people like you who, you know, are not necessarily like one way or the other. Like, do you think there should be some sort of recognition for people like you? Or not recognition, but maybe like an event where you guys kind of... I don't think we should have our own month. I think, I think there's something cool of being have multiple months acknowledging who you are. Like, I mean, because life isn't just very, like, you know, life isn't just one way or another. There's a lot of gray area and there's more facets to you than just a singular identity. And I think it goes with the gatekeeping thing.

that the gate should be wide open and people shouldn't feel excluded, I feel, just due to, you know, that they're not fully, fully, by not my choice. Like, you know, I can choose who I was born into. You know, just I... Yeah, I think that that'll be my answer. It's interesting in forms,

well because I just hit other like because like the the ethnicity race questions are kind of I get why they're there but they don't really truly reflect like who you are

because it's like I could put white I could put Hispanic but it's like I'm both so like Andy me Andy Garcia see it's almost It's time for my favorite part of the show, which is where Mike asked you a bunch of random questions.

But before we get to that part, I want to ask you one final question about Hispanic Charitishman. And that is, how are you celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month? By coming on this podcast and talking to you. Quite the party. All right, Mike, with that, I'll let you take it away, Mom. All right, so we're going to go to Rapid Fire. We're actually having a couple of community questions that could actually be Rapid Fire. Start just storing them in here.

From Yaki Cup, Yacht Cup. That's my friend. If you could be one PC part, what would you be? The Cracken, because I'm cool, baby. Which one? Just the Z-73, because that's what I have right now. I would have guessed you to be a USB hub. is I'm plugged in

you plugged it baby you power everything uh oh from the more on actually asks can you ask Andy who he predicts will make the World Series this year Dodgers

um bias not biased no objectively they're greatest baseball team of all time they're kind of the best team I mean but the playoffs like the worst team could

win the World Series. Baseball's not as predictable as other sports. But I'm... Yeah, like, you never know. But I mean, the Dodgers are the best team. And I don't think people realize that

because they're like, oh, the Mets. Oh, the Mets are so good. But the Dodgers are really good. They're just the most balanced team, I think, I've ever witnessed. Most wins. by a lot too

1906 or something yeah since like the Cubs did it and I think there were less games too I mean I guess that makes the Cubs a little bit more impressive but still I mean and they won 106 last year and like 104 the other year

it's like they're really good it's just playoffs are random and you know the weirdest team can catch on fire and destroy. Next question from Red Pate Chips. Ask Andy, which celebrity he would trust most to dog

sit his dog? Guy Fierry? Yeah, Guy Fierry was good with that. That was a good one. You cook my dog a very good meal. Oh, I didn't realize that you had. Hello, what's their name? Daisy.

Daisy. After Princess Daisy. How long have you had Daisy? Two and a half years, roughly. She's a chihuahua, and she's the Swedish chihuahua. All right. Go ahead. No, she's just been sitting on my lap.

I didn't even notice that you had. I thought you just brought Daisy into the room. I didn't know you were holding Daisy the entire time. That's the beauty of having a little chihuahua. They're so small. And she has very long legs. for a little chihuahua. She's like a model.

Sorry, I just realized that. I think during when I was adding in the blacklisted words, I think OMG is somehow in it. So I'll make sure to change that. So sorry, y'all. I did not realize that OMG was a blacklisted word. Going on.

Favorite game all time? Earthbound, I think. Localize Mother 3. localized Mother 3 will never happen I have a my friend got me like a the translated fan version on a

on a Game Boy cart which is cool Game Boy Advance cartridge Speaking of like cartridges and stuff like that First ever game slash console you owned On N64 Any game? I think I got

Mario 64 and Mario Kart at the same time. Mario Kart 64. That game has not aged well. It is so bad when you try to play it. Mario 64 has aged well, though. Yes. Let's see.

Oh, favorite Dodgers player of all time. Clayton Kershaw. Favorite baseball player of all time? That's a lot. I don't know. I have a lot. I mean, there's the ones I've kind of watched watching or what I've seen. And there's like historical ones that I haven't seen.

So, but I like them. Like, Ted Williams is really cool. He's actually Mexican-American. And the thing that's crazy about Ted Williams was he served in the Korean War for three years during his prime. And when he came back, he still was just amazing. So it's kind of one of those things that like war robbed us of three prime Ted Williams years. So who knows what he could have accomplished. And then he was the last hitter to hit 400, which means he hit 40% of his hits.

Like 300 is considered good and known it's one person has gotten close in 1993 or four. Tony Quinn or Tony Gwen. But like there's a story is like he was trying to get. the batting title. Then his manager wanted to sit him and he was just like, no, I'm going to play. And then he like, because I think they wanted him to get the 400 mark and he's like, no,

I'm going to play because I'm the best. And he raises average to 406. Speaking of a batty title, Freddy Freeman was like one hit away. His room for getting him. Yeah. See, then that's what the Mets manager with Jeff McNeil and like, then sat him so he would win the batting title. Yeah.

Like, Ted Williams didn't sit because he wasn't afraid. But I also like Sandy Kofax, David Ortiz, Mani Ramirez is one of my favorite players until he kind of did all those steroids. Should there be a lead-off runner on second base when going into extra innings? I don't know. No, it's the dumbest rule. It's the dumbest rule. It's the dumbest rule. It's the dumbest rule, and they need to cancel it.

Why is it dumb? it's just dumb because it's like you just have a runner on second with no outs in the top of the 10th they wanted to speed up extra innings but it's just it's just really stupid it's dumb

like it shouldn't exist I'm okay with it if it's in like the 14th inning but not in the 10th do pitcher wins matter No. Did Ivan write that? Yeah, a lot of these are Ivan's question, especially with baseball since I don't know baseball that much. Is Aaron Judge the true home run king?

No. Who? Why not? Because Barry Bonds hit more home runs, even though it was steroids. It's still history. So, okay, is Aaron Judge the true non-steroid home run king? I mean, there's a lot of qualifiers for that. I mean, he's the American League home run king, and that's fine.

But more players hit home runs. But they were, they were juicing. But, I mean, that was the era that they were in. I know it was illegal, but no one gave a shit. Well, I'm sure there's still players juicy now, though, right? They're better at hiding it. I mean, there's always some form of cheating in baseball, Like in the 70s they took like infetamines

And like the pitchers using the goopy stuff So I mean if they didn't I mean yeah I I mean they are cheaters but no one really enforced it back then And it's a part of history and it's kind of dumb to Just hide from it and just like Ooh

Rate your must I should just kill blood to 10 being David Crosby. I think it's a 7. I think it's okay. But it could, I mean, I think this is the, it's peak. I don't think it could

get any better. I think it's a great mustache, but there's ones that are just due to physiology way better than mine. I'd say it's a good, I say it's a good eight, nine.

Well, thank you. Would you rather be bald or shave your mustache? Rather shave my mustache. Would you stop using Apple products and admit your mustache would grow thicker? No, I mean, I got my Apple Watch. I will not stop using Apple products. Okay. Now, this is my, this is the, I saw this on Twitter.

and I've been so interested in hearing. So out of the scale, right, there is extra small, small, medium, large, extra large, right? I'm talking to your tips for... No, just like in general,

like it sizes, like shirt sizes or anything like that, right? So you have small, or extra small, small, medium, large, extra large, right? Yeah. Where does extra medium

lie on that scale? so interestingly enough here's the thing i probably at well one point in my life was an extra medium because my the way my body swarm i am very broad-chested and so when i go by shirts like let's say example

um if let's say i'm a medium medium shirts don't fit me well like on the gut but or no fit me well hold on shirts are tighter up top but don't fit me well in the bottom

because they're very loose because my chest is very broad so if I go up a neck size where it fits me well in my chest but it looks like I have like falling out of my shirt so actually I would probably be an extra medium because they just need to make

more shirts that could fit people with broad chess and like smaller waist I guess I would say it would be between I guess large and medium is where I would define it okay so so this is something I

right there okay I because I'm not well at one point I wasn't fully a large but I am not fully a medium It's just my body type's unusual for a man, I guess. I don't know. Can you take off your shirt as well, Sandy?

I don't think the world could handle that. I don't think we would allow it on Twitch either. So if you want to make this the last podcast we can. Okay. I mean, do you have any suggestions on extra medium where that lies? I'm kind of in a similar boat as Andy. where I feel like I don't have like a big chest or a wide chest, but for some reason, like my shoulders, like every large shirt, like it feels like it's pinching my shoulders. So it's like, I'm definitely in between like a large and extra large.

But if I get an extra large, like the shirt will go down on my knees. So it's like I just get large and just deal with tight on my shoulders. So I don't know. It's an interesting question. I did wish there was like more options. Yeah. What's interesting, like whenever I get measured for something, like for instance, I don't know, like when I was in choir,

we had to get like suits because, you know, that's, yeah, it looked snazzy when you sing. And I got all measured up. And when the pants came, I don't know what the heck happened, but the lady, either someone, someone messed up down the line, but when the pants came, they literally could fit a sumo wrestler. And I wasn't that big.

And I was just like, what are you measuring? Like, and every time I get measured, something happens like that. Like, I was in my friend's wedding. And the shirts that they were giving me fit the same problem, where I, uh, you know, like, was in between two sizes and had to like go up three sizes to get something that actually looked and felt good because like so i looked like i was hulking out of a lot of the a lot of the the the clothes that they were giving me okay well i think that is it on my rapid fire questions does anyone have any other

announcements any do you have anyone a shout out or anything before we go into announcements should we talk about the monitor yeah i'll be talking about that Okay. And you'll be on that, on that podcast, another time to tell everyone about it as well. Fun. It's a cool monitor. All right. I'll go straight to announce this real quick.

For those that don't know, we actually just launched more monitors, like as we were talking about, the Canvas FHD is available in 25 and 27 inches and features a 240 Hertz refresh rate to learn more about the Canvas FHD monitors. check out our website nc60.com. They're awesome, super cool. A lot of people are loving it, so take a look. We've also, not to mention, like Andy said, we are releasing so many products right now. We also are announced that we will have two motherboards on their way. We have the N7 Z790 and the N7B650E.

You know, release date is still TBD, so please, if you want, go to nc60.com. go to the components, go to the motherboards, and then join the mailing list so that you'll get an email when they're ready to go. That will be later throughout the year. You'll get an email when we finally released it. Second. Oh, Marvel Spider-Man remastered. We have a brand deal going on with them. So if you purchase a qualifying Nvidia-G-Force RTX 30 series PC, so an actual GPU, you will get the ability to get Marvel Spider-Man remastered for free. If you guys want to check it out, go to n66.com to find our custom or pre-built PCs to make sure

it's qualifies. We also have something coming in tomorrow. So please join us tomorrow as we will be playing My World's Spider-Man Remastered, but there will be a hidden surprise as well. So keep an eye out for socials. We have so many wonderful and beautiful people joining the partner program. So please, if you want to join NCT Family, go to nz60.co slash partner, uh,

affiliate application, and good luck. Best of luck to everyone. Um, and like I said, we are releasing so many products. Honestly, I've actually got it to the point where I've lost track of how many,

uh, products we've launched. Uh, so we have new monitors, new cases like the 87 and 8,7, 8,510 flow, mics, keyboards, thermal paste.

We have everything and everything. And like I said, n60.com is where you can find all these and find everything available for PCs, the components, see what you guys can get. As for the code, let me go ahead and grab the code. For those that don't know, if you guys are listening live, there is a code that gives you 500 extra entries into the giveaway. Like I said, it's a thank you for those that are sticking out here.

It will help you get up. Like I said, majority of time when we pull winner. Most of the time, they do tend to be those people that I've joined it. So I'm going to go ahead and type in the chat, the secret code. The secret code is mustache. Secret code is mustache, M-O-U-S-T-A-C-H-E mustache for Andy's beautiful mustache. Oh, yes. So please, that is a thank you for everyone for joining us live on the NCCC podcast.

Thank you, Andy, for joining us for Hispanic Heritage Month and talking all about your adventures of, you know, being. mixed and the hardships that hate come with it. May I should shout out a quick people? Yes, please. Go ahead. I want to acknowledge how cool. I want to acknowledge the CS team, especially Josh

and Laurent. You know, they, they, as I mentioned about shipping, they help make my shipping life a lot easier. And I would also love to shout out notoriously soft and

Shano from LNG. They're the realist. and also my two friends I think joined red paint ships and yakup uh yacup they are the realist as well okay awesome I think that is I mean you have any announcements or anything I just want to thank Andy for joining us in the podcast once again I believe this is number 12

at the can it's been 12 not that many but yeah I always love having you on. I always love being on. You're always entertaining to talk to. You're a true homie at MZXT. Couldn't imagine working here without you. So thank you for all you do.

Thank you for sharing your story with us today. And leave up Mexico. Perfect. Thank you guys for joining us. Remember, tune in live every Thursday at 10-N-Pacific standard time on the official NCCC Twitch. And don't forget to listen to previous episodes on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcast, Spotify, and SoundCloud. Please leave a pause review if you like what you hear. here or if you didn't got any questions for us send an email to podcast at nzxc.com or tag at nzxxt on all

social media platforms and if anyone here is tomorrow tune in live to twitch ncccccc or twitch.tv.com or tv.com to see me play's marlis spiderman with a hidden surprise keep on socials. I know what the surprise is is pretty dope it's pretty dope all right by everyone we're going to live in the oh sorry no no you're good you're good say it I was going to say we're going to live in the post Chris Pratt Mario world. very soon. Very soon. We're going to see what that is.

I'm scared. I'm scared as well. But we'll get through it together. Best of luck, everyone, because it's going to be a long ride with Chris Bratt. All right, everyone. Have a good day.