Ologies with Alie Ward - Ologiesology with Alie Ward (1-Year Anniversary Episode)

Episode Date: October 5, 2018

Ever wanted to know how an episode of Ologies is made? Are you curious to learn about your host Alie Ward’s journey into science communication and beyond? If you need to know how Dad Ward does it all each week, this episode is for you.Become a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a month: www.Patreon.com/ologiesOlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, pins, totes!Follow @Ologies on Twitter or InstagramFollow @AlieWard on Twitter or InstagramMore links at www.alieward.comSound editing by Steven Ray MorrisTheme song by Nick ThorburnSupport the show: http://Patreon.com/ologies

Hey, it's your favorite cat lady, Stephen Ray Morris, oligies editor, unboxing video connoisseur, and corn dog zealot bringing you today a very special episode of oligies. Because this week, we're turning the mic on your host with the most Allie Ward to interview her about her time making this podcast and more. Now a bit of history. I discovered Allie Ward after seeing her with Georgia Hardstark on the meltdown stage, I'm pretty sure, July 3rd, 2013. I looked it up.

I immediately subscribed, of course. Slumber Party was the first podcast I'd ever subscribed to in my Apple Podcast app. A little over a year later in 2014, I was lucky to meet Allie at a live slumber party show. She's charming, hilarious, curious, and open-hearted. She inspires me every day. As I got involved in the local Los Angeles podcasting scene, we connected over a mutual love of natural history museums and science in general. So while I started producing podcasts and hosting on my own, I got wind of oligies brewing

and wanted to be part of it. However, before we dive into Allie's journey and how oligies came together, I wanted to get some business out of the way. Supporting oligies on Patreon at patreon.com. Plus oligies, even a dollar goes a long way to making the best show possible, it could possibly be. Plus, there's tons of new merch in the oligies store, oligiesmerch.com. And today's subject, Dad Ward herself, has her very own show premiering on the CW network

this Saturday morning, October 6th, called Did I Mention Invention, which to quote, will bring viewers faceting stories of invention while shining a light on everyday innovators. Sounds pretty neat to me. Check your local listings, of course. I know all oligites have already carved out some time Saturday to get their dimmy on. That's Did I Mention Invention. That rolls off the tongue, right? Okay.

Or Allieology, as I want to call it. In this episode, Allie and I sat in her closet of wonders to chat about her path to oligies, answering your Patreon submitted questions, and some on my own. We talked about Natural History Museum epiphanies, the nuts and bolts of putting an oligy episode together, and the importance of science advocacy. Plus, we also talked about manifesting your passions, being vulnerable, and more. So now, without further ado, it's my pleasure to reintroduce your sports stats obsessed cousins slash grandma's new boyfriend, slash camcanceller, slash dadward triumphant, oligiesologist Allie

Ward. It is recording. Okay, cool. Just hit the ground running. Keep it going. All right. Are you ready? Kind of.

Okay. This is... It just contextually, it's so weird for me to get so divulgy. You're the... What was somebody saying? Allie... Allieologists? Allieologist.

Sure. I study oligies. That's legit. It's made up word. Yeah. Can you get a degree in studying how other people study? I think I just need to get old enough and right before people think I'm going to die, someone gives me an honorary something to somewhere.

Even if it's just like Rancho Cordova honorary doctorate in absolute buffoonery, I'll take it. Well, yeah. I mean, in the end, then you get a postdoc in it as well. Post-honorary doc in buffoonery? Yes. I mean, there's so many good questions to start with. Thank you for doing this.

You've been really... Of course. We haven't sat and talked on a podcast in a long time. I know, since the PurCast. Yes, which is one of the questions. Is it? Yeah. Yeah, they were...

Let's see. Excuse the noise of me shuffling papers. That was my favorite thing in the Egyptology episode was when... Which is why I kept it in where you're like, cats. Like you had to like stack all these papers and you're like, oh my gosh, people have asked this million questions. So many cat questions. Yeah.

Rebecca Lynn Wesselberg said, can you do a crossover with the PurCast and... Done it. Yeah, done. Checked off. Have I only done one episode of the PurCast or did I do two? No, it was the April Fools episode. Yeah, the Mantis one. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That was two April Fools, or no, one April Fools ago, I think. Right. It was 2017 April Fools and we talked about owning a praying mantis as a pet. Yes, which I want to do. You should get one. If you've thought about getting any new InSexus pets since then. Ever since I killed Maribel, I feel like I'm putting my toe into the motherly waters is scary.

I mean, you know, you just take it one step at a time, you get a few ants. Actually, I'm working on ants today. I know, I saw the email. Yeah, yeah. Just two, two lonely ants, that's so sad. But then they'll make more, right? No, they're all, most of them are girls. They need a queen.

They're just going to be two lonely ants. It's like two bitches stuck in an airport just, I guess, we're here now. But I mean, they have the ant farm model themselves. Yeah, that's true. Oh, we put a fish tank. No. Are you not a fish person? Fish are fine.

Fish are fine. They're not friends. They're fine. At least with Maribel, like I could take her out and she could crawl in my face and we would listen to Beyonce together. So I felt like, but I feel like fish, fish don't care about me. They're never going to care about me. Or snails.

I could get a snail. Get a snail. I could get a pet snail. I'm not going to get a gal. I'm not going to get a giant African land snail. No, well, that's illegal. And then if they escape, then all of it'll ruin the ecosystem. The whole world will be covered in gals.

Hell yeah. So no gals, no snails. I do kind of, all I want is a dog. Everyone who knows me knows all I want is a dog and my whole life is just a steady march to own a house and get a dog. That's the only reason I do anything. It's going to happen. I feel like when I do it, what if I get there and I'm like, I hate this dog.

I mean, I feel like, I feel like it'll be, but I mean, you'll be ready for it. You know, I mean, Sarah just adopted a new cat and it took her like three years to like work up to getting it. So I think I'm going to love the dog no matter what. I'm just a little, I'm just a little bit afraid of what if I've built it up so much. Sure. Do you know what I mean? Yeah.

So I think you're not worrying about it. I'm not worrying about it. Yeah. I think the way that I get a dog will be like a very, very big day. I think I want to have a dog shower where I invite people and then I register for things and people have to get me like, I don't know, bowls and leashes and stuff. Okay. Not the dog gifts.

They get you the gifts. They get the dog gifts. Okay. They get like as if I were having a baby like poop bags and stuff and I just like register at Petco. Cute, like, like science themed dog stuff. I'm in it for the dog sweaters. A whale costume.

Or a dog shark costume. That'd be so great. If I get a dog, I might register. I'm going to start with this question because it's very straight to the point, which is Jeffrey Katz wants to know, I would like to hear your weird backstory. Oh my God. Oh boy. Okay.

I'm going to do it in a real nutshell. Okay. So I grew up the last of three girls. I'm pretty sure my parents were gunning for a boy and so they were very supportive of us being as tomboy as we liked. There was like not a lot of pressure to be like baby pageant girls. So we just grew up like romping around outside and like catching polywags and like looking at muskrats and like up in Sacramento and they would just turn us, we were like free

range chickens. They were just like come back before sundown and don't get tetanus. Like those, that was pretty much the only rule. And so, and I always loved science and I always love like bugs and nature and stuff. And so then, but I also liked theater dorky stupid shit. And so I went to college and I couldn't decide if I should study film and art or biology because I love them both. So I studied them both.

And then I had this epiphany. I was really a biology major. And then I had this epiphany studying crawfish mouth parts in a library at a city college. And I remember just sitting there being like, I'm memorizing all these mouth parts. So this is because, because when you fix that asks what sparked your interest in science. So this is the moment. This is the moment for you. No, this is what made me change my major to film.

Oh, shit. I was, I was like on the course to be a biologist. And then I was studying these crowd, these crayfish mouth parts. And I was like, I don't know if I can do this forever. And then I was like, I think I want to make art stuff, but make art stuff about science. So that was like the moment I was like, I think maybe I can do both. But I always loved, you know what? My parents got me this microscope when I was, I remember I was like eight.

They got me this like toy microscope. It was really good though. It works really well. Nice. But it was like for kids. It was like made of plastic so that like you couldn't break it. Speak and spell of. Pretty much.

Microscopes. I have a replica of it. I found a replica once or like the same kind and an old like thrift shop. And I went bananas and I bought it. Yeah. I think they were just like, I don't know, maybe they're like, it's just like whatever like last minute Christmas gifts. And I ended up loving it.

And I used it all the time. And I would like swab dust and put mouth, mouth, mouth, mouth under it. And I just loved it. And so I remember my sisters and I listened to the Beatles a lot around that time. We just would like listen to tapes of the Beatles and I would look at my microscope and I remember just being like, this is heaven. This is a life. So then I studied in college, but I just, I think I wanted to do something with art and

science. And I thought maybe I would be a biological illustrator or something. And I ended up studying film and then I always wanted to do this. But I got kind of sidetracked doing some like journalism and other stuff I kept kind of bouncing around. According to Alipedia, her not Wikipedia, she started as an illustrator at the LA Weekly in 2005 here in Los Angeles before writing for the same publication in 2006. Then she moved onward and upward to the LA Times in 2007 and wrote for them until 2010.

Well, it sort of gave you the means to come around and do this kind of in a way. And also we, just for listeners, we both went to UCSB and did film as we both did the same program. Right. We did. Yeah. Which is so crazy to think about. That is really, really weird.

I think he were there like 25 years after me. No. No. I was there when we would, when I was in college studying film, we would actually cut film. With like razor blades and have to tape it back together as editing. I will be fair. I feel very lucky that like my class is probably one of the last classes to do that because they definitely don't do it anymore.

Don't feel lucky it sucks. Which is, oh, you know what? There was something zen about it a little bit. Just like, but I think only just because it just was, it doesn't, people don't do that anymore. I think for me. But yeah, I agree. I don't know if I would want it.

I definitely as an editor, I definitely wouldn't want to do that for a living. Can you imagine editing oligies like that? No. No. But yeah, so basically did, you know, film stuff and television stuff and food stuff, but then that kind of allowed you to. Right. Right.

So then what, so then the question that a lot of people had, of course, which was, there's Bree Johnson, Danny Kang, and then Melissa Kotzel, I like the way she worded it, what was, what was it that finally gave you the kick in the butt you needed to actually start making the podcast you wanted to make for so long? Which is oligies. That's such a good question. I like the food arena, but it always felt like it was not quite what I was like, what I really wanted to do.

I felt like I kind of fell into it and was like, okay. Yeah. But, but I, I started volunteering at a museum in 2013. I had a really, I don't know. I'm sure some people have heard the story, but I had a really, really shitty, shitty year. Like my, I mentioned it in the hematology episode, I think, or no, the, the museology. No.

Entomology episode? Wait, it wasn't in the museology? I feel like. Maybe it was, I can't remember, but I had a really shitty year and I was really sad and my dad got diagnosed with myeloma. He's doing really well, by the way. And so I was just, I was, I went through a breakup where I was really bummed and so I started volunteering at the museum and that kind of opened up the whole science correspondent

stuff for me because I really just did it because I wanted to be there. I just needed something to live for my sparrows because I was so, I was just crying all the time. And I remember being like, I only cried three times today and I remember being like, what of an improvement? If you were doing your bullet journaling then you'd have a little square, like a little row for crying, like sleep schedule, eating, exercise, crying. Like, like three teardrop in like a special blue pen.

I was so bummed, but so, and then I met all these really great people through the museum and I, and then I have a friend, Andy Hall, who works with Innovation Nation, which is a show I work on now and he edits for them and they were looking for a correspondent and he's like, you know, my friend Allie's always liked science and she said, she works at this museum sometimes. And that's how I ended up getting a job at Innovation Nation. They were like, hey, we're, we're casting this new show and we understand that you do TV, but you also like science.

And I was like, holy shit, who knew that volunteering would have led me there because I don't, I think there was a weird moment where I like, even with my Instagram, I had like food, comedy, podcast, Instagram, but I was afraid to put up pictures of science because I was like, oh, that's kind of off brand. And like people follow me for like drink recipes and vintage clothes. And so I remember like putting something up saying that I was, got my badge to start volunteering at the museum. And I remember someone made some comment like, oh, yeah, are you going to make any

whiskey shots for the kids? And I just remember being like, that's not who I am. I just remember being really kind of bummed. And it was kind of like an eye-opener for me that I wasn't maybe doing what I was supposed to do. But in terms of the podcast, I had, I've wanted to do this idea for like so, so long. And then the day that I actually put it up, I'd been working on it for like, you know, we'd worked on it for like nine months together.

Well, one question from Julie Noble was like, what did you do to celebrate the launch of all of these, which is a, you know, is a bigger question and a bigger story. So, you know, but making like you were, you had helped me for a month, like I really wanted to make this. And I had come to you being like, okay, I remember you were there for the, when we recorded, obviously, paleontology of dinosaurs. We're like, bring them in the booth, got them in the booth. And I had been like, I came to you, I was like, Stephen, I have these interviews

and I think they're good, but they don't think they like really capture what I want this to capture. And you like sat down with me. You showed me how to use garage bands. Like you gave me all these tips and we went back and forth with edits and stuff. And then finally, I was like, what if we put in these like little asides and stuff. And so worked forever on that.

And then it was like, okay, I finally think I got this in a good place. And then the day that it went to launch with our old podcast network, they put up like the unedited version. Like one, this was, this was, I mean, again, we're recording this a year from the first episode with, with Jess Phoenix. But the first episode, it had an edit from like April or something like that, which was, wasn't ever meant to be finished or anything. Yeah, no, no asides, no sound effects, like all this stuff that we ended up taking out.

So it was like the kind of a raw version is what went up for the very first episode. And I realized the error, the network had just put up an old file and I realized the error after like several thousand downloads had already gone through. Like all these people, I'd been like pumping it forever. So I had to be like, everyone erase that one. There's actually the real, so that was a little. So I celebrated that day by just probably horsely crying into a pillow, being like, am I cursed?

Well, it's your, it's your, it's like, it's like shitting in your pants on your birthday. You know what I mean? Like it's my birthday, but still this, I, you know, and again, it's this thing of like, you know, it, you know, it was, it was all this work that you put in. And that's the thing I was going to say before is that I feel like it's funny that you got that comment when you were starting to volunteer, because I feel like a big part of why, why I was a fan of slumber party and how I found the podcast and stuff is that over the evolution of that podcast, you would just talk about

science stuff more and more and more. And I just thought that was very inspiring because you're just like, Hey, or something I'm interested. So it's cool to think that you got a job doing science correspondence because you kind of like manifested your interest. And so I was really afraid it would alienate people and they'd be like, this is not what I came here for. Well, no, I mean, because that's another thing like UCSB, like I almost

double majored in geology and film, but because I wanted to study abroad, it's like harder to study abroad in the sciences and stuff. So I've always related to that desire to like want to be involved with science, but not necessarily like being good enough at math or whatever to get the degree while getting a geology degree at UCSB required a ton of undergrad coursework in biology, physics, chemistry and math, getting a film and media studies degree only required two science classes. I chose dinosaurs, obviously in natural disasters.

And yet they were the best grades I ever got in my four years there. So I feel like I really connected with that. And so then, of course, when allergies, when you were like, want to do it's like, of course, I wanted to like at least like, you know, just even just be like, Hey, like I love what you're doing or whatever. So I was so thankful you wanted me to help out. Oh, hell yeah. I was like, I got Stephen Ray Morris to work on this because I've known you for

years. Like I remember you came to a slumber party live show and you told me about a cockroach infestation. And I was like, I like this kid. Oh, the great cockroach infestation of 2014 or something like that. We talked about, we just talked about how like cockroaches are like the one insect that I'm like, I want to be, I want to be down with you, but. Well, I, you know, I, I mean, I eventually held them

when I did that live animal thing. And I like let cockroaches like, cause they did like Bob Ross painting, but with cockroaches, so I was like picking them up and I felt very like, I was like, Ali would be proud of me right now. I'm like holding all these bugs. And then they, they did a thing where they, it was like, um, like a twitch raise money for charity. And they were, if you donate $50, they'll put a tarantula on your head.

Oh, that's awesome. A Brazilian rose. A rose hair. Tarantula. This is where the aside comes in. And then, right. But, uh, it was so funny because I think I played it so cool that nobody put it on me all day, but the person, of course, it was like, like, of course,

it's funnier. And then by the end of the day, I was like, oh, I didn't get to hold the tarantula. And then I just like held it like not even on camera. And I was like, oh, wow. I feel like just from learning from the podcast and trying to overcome that fear of insects. Well, technically a spider.

Or an arachnid, close enough. Did you, did you feel like you got over like a bug hump with that? A little bit, for sure. Yeah. I mean, yeah. So I was just like, oh, like, I feel like Ali will be proud of me that I'm holding cockroaches and tarantulas right now. I think it's like, it's funny too.

Cause like when we see a cockroach or a tarantula come out of a terrarium, we're like, okay, you're, okay, we know where you're, we got it. We got your backstory. Yeah. Probably worst thing that's going on is maybe you got some mites in your joints. But when there's just something like eating an apple core, like in or under under your socks and your underwear drawer or whatever, you're just like. I did, um, I had a friend who sent me like a bug picture, like, Ali,

what is this bug? And I love those. I get a couple of them, sometimes a couple a day and I'm like, bring it on. I have to admit the moment Ali and I exchanged numbers, I took advantage of her bug encyclopedia brain and texted her often like, whoa, what kind of spider is this? And, uh, hey, this moth looks rather unique, doesn't it? He's like, what is this cute little bug?

And I was like, it's a baby cockroach. I was like, I need to tell you. So in all of this, like getting ready, being excited. And then like this day happens. It just, but I think if it seemed like pretty quickly that people understood what this podcast was about and glommed on, and it was just, I think the, your instinct of having the asides was like such a good choice because it's people, like people love it.

I think it's Matt Meyer that says this, um, he says there's East Coast podcast and West Coast podcast and East Coast are very like, uh, like NPR and this American life and sound beds and fading in and narration. And then West Coast is like a couple of mikes in a room was in a closet. Yes. We are right now. Let's shoot the shit and put this thing up. It goes up in an hour.

Great. Perfect. Yeah. And so I started recording these and I remember being like, it's going to be a West Coast podcast. I'm just going to kick it with scientists. And then being like, there's a lot of things I didn't understand or I didn't want to ask or maybe needed some levity. And I was like, but I don't have them.

I don't have the means. I'm not NPR. I can't do like a full produced thing. So the aside seemed like a good in between where it was like mostly a long form interview, but just with these pop ins being like real quick. And so it kind of, I remember putting it up being like, this is an East Coast or West Coast. What if this, there's a reason why this format doesn't exist.

Cause it probably sucks. And then it's nice that it ended up working as a format. I've noticed people want to learn when they listen to podcasts, but they also want to be entertained. And it's like, you are taking the parts of the scientists that are sharing this exciting information and humanizing them, but also just giving it kind of a rudder so that you could actually go to this episode and you could really come away with real knowledge, not just about who the scientist is, but about what they

do, which I think is why the podcast is so important or why science advocacy is so important because it's the point is you're supposed to not only care about it, but also learn something too. So like that's, I think why the asides became so essential. Oh, that's good. Sometimes I'm like, people hate these. But I think they like them. I don't know.

I hope so. Well, there's a great question, uh, as I'm sorting through, oh, here we go. This is a, this is kind of a long one, but it's, but this is kind of ties into this, which is, um, Kelly Janes asks, I'm very inspired by your ability to provide excellent science communication. You make complex and difficult ideas, easy to understand without seeming pedantic, and you make it all seem so fascinating. I'm an environmental planner for a government agency that does a lot of

high tech research, designing construction of watershed infrastructures. And my job is to often help educate the public on our work so they can provide comments on how our projects will impact their lives. I was always told to try and say it in a way that my grandma would understand, which has never been helpful. Any tips for how to communicate technical stuff effectively to the general public? Ooh, I mean, I guess I don't go by the grandma rule unless your grandma swears a lot.

And like my parents listen to this and I'm like, oh, sorry, mom. Sorry, dad. Like I, people are like, can you, I've had a couple of people be like, can you not swear as much? Like a couple. And then most people have been like, keep swearing, it's fine. But so like gearing communication toward a grandma depends on, depends on how like informal you want to get.

But I think the biggest thing about it is, um, why people should care. I think the information is only important if people care about it. And so I think the first thing you have to do is relate it to people's lives. Like people watch beauty tutorials because they want to do the same thing and feel more beautiful. People watch whittling tutorials, usually cause they want to learn how to whittle unless they have ASMR in which case, Stephen, that's me, I'm watching all these, uh, all these kinds of things.

I call it the Bob Ross effect. The soothing tingles you get when someone has a smooth, calming voice. And according to Wikipedia, autonomous sensory meridian response ASMR is an experience characterized by a static, like or tingling sensation on the skin that typically begins on the scalp and moves down to the back of the neck and the upper spine. ASMR signifies the subjective experience of low grade, quote unquote, low grade euphoria characterized by a combination of positive feelings and distinct

static, like tingling sensations on the skin. It is most commonly triggered by a specific auditory or visual stimuli and less commonly by intentional attention control, whatever that means. Tom Stafford, a lecturer in psychology and cognitive sciences at the University of Sheffield was reported to have said that ASMR might as well be a real thing, but it is inherently difficult to research something like this, you can't see or feel and doesn't happen to everyone. Stafford compares the current status of ASMR with development attitudes

towards anesthesia, which he says, quote unquote, for years was a myth. Then in the 1990s, people came up with a reliable way of measuring it. I guess this is a test to see if it works on you. We're going to have some fun. Wood carving videos with no intention of wood carving in your life. Hell yeah. Oh, I'm all about that. But usually we want usually we watch things because we want to take

a nugget of that and make our lives better. We like want to put something in our pockets. And the first thing with science communications, you have to explain why it's a little bit relevant to their to their lives. And that means you have to figure out it's relevant. You can't convince other people something's relevant if you don't believe it. So you have to get excited about that. And then I think it's a matter of just artful analogies are helpful.

I mean, if they're applicable, like if you're working on like, what is it? Water systems, like trying to figure out on a smaller scale, what what it's similar to in other people's lives, you know what I mean? Whether or not that's comparing like Hatshepsut to Miranda or it's like, you know, or or butterflies and tinder or something like, like make it emotional for people. And that's what and I learned that from being at the museum. Actually, I don't think I would have known that when you're at the museum is like a docent, which I was like one step below a docent, but you have to like go up these

levels, but they museums teach this thing called it's the way that they interpret. Is you don't ever tell someone like, look at this artifact. This is the artifact. The first thing you do is like, figure out what is what is the emotional importance of an artifact? Interesting. You know, you could be looking at a desk and like, OK, cool old desk. And then you're like, this was the first desk like Walt Disney drew was very first

part to suddenly that desk becomes important. Like, you know, someone else's wedding ring doesn't mean the same thing that yours might to you, you know, so it's all about the emotionality of the object or the fact. And then getting people to care about it that way. So I think science is the same thing. It's like, why should we care about ladybug migration? Well, this is what it's like that's similar to your life or this is what it would be like if we didn't have it.

You know, I think everyone feels a more of a connection to things when they can put it in the context of their own life. I also think to a big part of your guest is because they're so passionate about it. And I think that's very infectious. And I think your interest in it as well is makes it infectious. And it's it's like we care because this must mean something if this person that we think is cool or, you know, and it's the idea that they love their job. And that's that's cool when people like their jobs.

So then you're like, oh, wait, now I'm listening. I'm paying attention. Like they're not just they're not just coasting through this thing. Like they're not just like the DMV or something. Who knows, somebody at the DMV could love their job. But and that would be awesome. I would love to hear somebody hear about that. Yeah.

But I mean, I think, yeah, like that's the thing with scientists. It's like, you don't realize how much scientists give up to do their job. Like it's expensive to get your PhD. You get student loans. You're not making a lot as a grad student. Like you're on treks a lot. You're in the lab late hours, whatever. There's a lot of sacrifices that scientists make.

I think people think, oh, you have a PhD or you must make so much money. And a lot of them are like, no, it really depends on what you do with it. So there's a lot of sacrifices people make to become scientists or to become experts in things, even if they never, you know, I've interviewed all of us who didn't even go to college. And that's fine, too. They just love what they do and they got really good at it. And they're thatologist and that's that's just as valid.

It's just having a passion so much that you you become really proficient in it enough to help other people and share it is like the whole, I think, spirit behind it, no matter what level of school you're at. Well, and I also think for me personally, why I really look up or why admire scientists is because sometimes the work they're doing isn't really to change anything in their own lifetime. They're looking at the bigger picture where like my little part is going to make the future a better place.

And I always find that sacrifice incredible to think about. Oh, totally. When you're like, I know everything about this one wasp and this piece of the puzzle is going to come in handy later. And you're like, OK, that's great. Yeah, I do think that's really interesting. And I think like finding finding out what it was that sparked someone's interest enough to follow that path that long.

And then you also realize like this person's dream might be to be a wasp scientist. And they're like, I love parasite wasps. I'm so into it. And then you realize that like whatever your dream is, if you're into it, then you're on the right road. You know what I mean? Like I think when you have a dream or when you have an ambition, you think everyone wants to do your ambition.

So it's going to be that path is going to be packed and you're not going to make it because it's just going to be like wall to wall, like like a New York City rush hour down the street. But then you're like, oh, maybe not so because everyone has their own thing that they want to do, you know? Yeah. I mean, again, as evidence in your career path, like nobody else took that same journey that you've taken so far. Right, right.

And I'm like, I'm sitting here being like, there's no way I can be a science communicator with everyone wants to do that, right? Some people are like, no, get that camera on my face. Like I want to go. I'm a baker, dude. Yeah. So I guess it's like the thing that theologist always inspired me is is just figuring out what you like the most.

That's like most of the battle when it comes to careers. This is like a lot of times, too, you don't know what you really want to do unless you write it down. Like there's stuff that I wanted to do that I'm too scared to even admit to myself because it seems too lofty a goal. And then I'll like write it down and really bad handwriting on a tiny piece of paper just to be like, those are the secrets at the end of future all the episodes.

And then once you admit to yourself that that's what you want to do, it's like you have so much better of a chance of actually getting it done. The first step is just like admitting your ambition. Yeah, it's it's a very exciting thing. I just just reminded me that there's a post in the ology's Facebook group of people sharing their secrets, which I thought was like really cool. Oh, I want to get into that one. Yeah, you're just like, all right, let me just read this like with a like

with a kombucha and just soak up everybody's secrets. But speaking of allogists in that process, there's a few process questions that I thought would be interesting. Kai or Aki, A.K.I. She says, how much time does it take you to do pre-interview and post-interview research? Oh, yeah. And then Julie Noble asks, how much research do you usually do before you meet each guest?

The podcast always seems like a casual conversation, but certainly you aren't a walking encyclopedia of science info or are you thinking emoji? Oh, I'm actually an android. I'm just an android covered in and just soft, dry flesh. Oh, no. I had a dream last night that I went to go interview someone. And as I sat down to interview them, they were like, did you even Google me? And I was like, oh, shit, I didn't know.

No, that's my worst nightmare. That's the dream that I was like, oh, no, I didn't even Google her. And then in the dream, I was like, I don't like to do too much research because I like to be surprised. So in the dream, I like even tried to like, like goose around it. Yeah, yeah, goose around it. I don't know. Is that a term? No. But I just I usually do.

I find that the interviews where I've done less less research before is usually better sometimes because then I can I'm not trying to prove anything like I'll I'll typically know I'll like research what they what their work is like, where they've worked, where they went to school, maybe where they lived. But I try not to get too into their back story just because it's really nice to hear it for the first time. And when someone's like, I started out as a ballet dancer and now I'm this.

And you're like, I know. Yeah. It's like, OK. Well, and also and I don't know if this has changed at all. But knowing that you have these besides knowing that you can fill in those gaps later, has that is that affected the way that you've conducted interviews? Oh, yeah, because I sometimes there'll be there'll be something that I won't know in the in the moment and I'll be like, oh, that'll be a good aside. Like, yeah, I think I didn't start off thinking about a science.

But sometimes in the interview, I'll be like, I can go off on that tension. But I'll quickly come back to the interview and try and just be super present. But I think when the research afterward is what is where it really comes in, like I do the interview and then I send it through a program called Temmie. Hell, yeah. Game changer. So fucking great. It's like 10 cents a minute, which is cheap. So it's like an hour or six dollars.

You get a full transcript and it's like it's like Siri transcribed your term paper after a margarita. Like it's not perfect, but you're like, OK, it gives you a starting point. Yeah, which is much it makes again, because I can imagine you've just done an hour and a half interview and the idea of having to parse through that. That's probably the most overwhelming point. But then having that transcript just gives you a little bit of a.

I can't imagine. I think that's part of the reason why it took so long and trying to figure out a format is like before I had a transcript of it, I would be like it'd be like searching around a pitch black closet for like a certain shirt and you're like, I don't know who said what when. Yeah. And it's just trying to edit that and be like, where where is. Yeah. Well, and also, again, I think listeners know that you you record it yourself because you're meeting all these people while you're on the road.

Yeah. You know, traveling and stuff like that. So you're not you don't necessarily are able to like wait at two forty five. You said this. No. Because again, you're trying to be present in this interview. You're already doing so much. So it having that transcript, I imagine, just made it gave you a little bit of a roadblock or a road guide, road guide. Road. Sure. A Thomas guide. Yeah.

A Thomas guide, a full, thick, thirty five page Thomas guide for every. It's like the transcripts are like twenty five thirty pages. It's almost like when you're writing a news article, all of your words are there and then you have the quotes from your interviewee. And with allergies, I kind of flipped it where I have mostly dialogue with the interviewee, with my asides or kind of like quotes in an article. So, you know, and so I kind of just flip the format.

And then once I did that, I could structure it and I could arc the story and I could be like, yes, it was so much easier to say, OK, this whole chunk is maybe not relevant. We can exit, you know. Yeah. Well, then that and that's what makes it really great is that we it's like we're constructing a story and and what's nice is that you can go into the interview without an agenda and then later you can be like, I mean, just thinking about Egyptology, where it you're, you know, it's

you could you could have had just a very like nuts and bolts, one on one Egyptology. But instead, you kind of brought in and especially with Dr. Karakuni's work and stuff, you kind of brought in a more beautiful, bigger, more important, bigger picture. And it's you wouldn't necessarily know that going in. I mean, you have like we have she had that book, but like I think the way the interview shaped it, then you were able to just kind of again, you're carving, we're carving wood, you know, you're whittling away until you're finding

the like the really strong through line that's going to hopefully impact people and stuff like that. And that's great. That's always great when I'll just have a perspective and a point of view too, that they're passionate about that, because like a lot of times what informs their work is they're they're passionate about a particular question or a particular way that their work relates to society in general. So it's really cool to touch on that and be like, oh, here it is. OK, this is their through line. OK, we may be record for an hour, 15.

And then I cut out enough of that where it's a little tighter. And then I add maybe 15, 20 minutes of a sides into depending. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I write like 4,000 words a week and I realized that I've written the equivalent of like a full novel, like 160,000 words in the last year. Incredible. To write and research is like, oh, no wonder I'm so tired. Yeah, yeah. I'm like, no wonder why I fell asleep in my clothes.

I mean, you know, look, we've all fallen asleep. We've all fallen asleep on our computer. Oh, I've fallen asleep with my actual face on the keyboard. Allie and I both don't get enough sleep, but at least we give each other a hard time about it. I feel like with allergies, it's like one of my goals with it was to take people who are doing awesome things and like put them on a pedestal and be like, look at this awesome person that you maybe wouldn't have heard of before because they don't run and you know, same online circles or something

and like look how awesome they are and like fall in love with them. Like I want to be like a yenta to like scientists and like the general public be like, I have someone you're going to love. Yeah, like I want to like match make. And so whenever I see people who listen to podcasts get really jazzed about someone, which they do almost every episode, but it makes me it makes me feel like when you introduce someone and then you see them like flirting with, you know, from far away and you're like, I love this.

Yeah, like two friends can hang out without the friend. Yes. Introduce them kind of thing. And it's cool and it's cute. Yeah, well, because I think to fold, I think the podcast not only each episode can be a primer for people who have never heard of it, but then I also think because oligites are so like so curious and so, you know, kind of chip off the old block

off of old Dad Ward's block. Oh, I think that even if so, even if the episode isn't necessarily 100 percent, that kind of wrote nuts and bolts thing, having that perspective from these scientists, having these interesting personalities on, then it also makes them learn something new. And it's kind of this like cool feedback loop of like people who've never heard of it. Now we're going off and exploring and then people have had heard of it. I have hearing something new about it.

And then it's just hopefully like, again, we're going to be like behind the tree. Like, you know, like, oh, they're like following each other now or, you know. And I always love whenever anyone's like, I didn't think I'd be into this subject. And then I ended up loving it. Oh, that's the best part. Favorite thing, because it's like I want to I want to try to point out that like everything is fascinating in context, like with passion and context, like anything is interesting.

Yeah. You know what I mean? Oh, of course. That's why I'm watching those VHS collection videos and those cologne sent sent videos and stuff. Is it more of an ASMR thing or is it more of like a look into these people's lives? Oh, it's a bit of because you're trying to like see behind the curtain kind of like what's going on, even though you only have this little narrow window YouTube screen and you're like, well, what is their actual life? Like after they've, you know, put all the colognes away

and then they have to like go to work. Like I think I said, you there's one guy who who like works in like an auto body shop, but then he'll bring out the juice and talk about all the different sense. And he's like, it's got like a patchouli like base with like an after note of lavender. And then it's like, but he's in an auto body shop and you're like, this must be the most interesting or it's a person who, you know. And again, I think that's a big part of I think why there is this group of people who love science, but aren't necessarily scientists because it's like this part

that fascinates them, but maybe they don't feel like they can integrate it in their lives somehow. So maybe listening to something like this can let them be like, oh, I love bugs too. Or I like, I want to go like I'm upset, you know, personally for me, I'm obsessed with natural history museums. And it's my thing of like every city I visit, I'm trying to go to that city's natural history museum while I'm there. That's so considering like jet lag in your schedule, that's so admirable

because I don't even do that. And I'm like, now I'm like, I should be doing well to be fair. I only go to, I go to the dinosaurs. I go to the gems. Thanks to Kelly Sitek, who you had on. Yeah, way back in the day. In the food court. What?

Oh, in the food court. Yeah, of course. Yeah, of course. I get a beer. I get a traveling beer. No, I was just going to say I'm always because I've had Kelly on the percast and I've always, whenever I go to like a natural history museum where there's gems, I'm always like taking pictures for her because I'm always

like, I don't necessarily know like how cool this is, but I'm sure if I text her and like, like show her this photo, she's going to be like, oh, this is amazing. Sometimes she'll just be like juicy, like just like at this like beautiful gemstone. Like I forget which nostril history museum it was, but there there was like a marine reptile that got opalized. So it's fossils like or like opal. Stop it.

They're like beautiful. And it's like, oh, yeah, your fossil. Like I just, my fossil is just regular bone. Like yours turned into like jewels, you know, like. That's so extra. And I think like, again, with the group, like the Facebook group, like just seeing everyone get excited and share with each other, like, oh, I was out here today and like we can, again, even if we can't be a scientist,

we can still like learn and explore. The thing is, it's like this is what boggles me. This is like my whole mission with science is like science is everywhere. It's in everything. It's in your whiskey. It's in your ice cream. It's in your car. It's in the clothes you wear.

It's in the shower you take. Like science is everywhere is all sciences is just how stuff works. And it's in everything. And the idea to be like, I'm not really into science. It's like, what do you like eating or breathing? Cause like you're into science, like science is part of your life. And having more context for how that stuff works, I think gives everything so much more meaning, kind of like that desk, like what is this desk

versus what happened at this desk? And I feel like even just seeing like a Katie did a bug land on your car, knowing a little bit about that bug makes that whole encounter different, you know, or seeing seeing a moth circle on a porch light and saying like, oh, those were OG and they came before butterflies. Like that's a little bit more backstory and context. And like, do you watch The Bachelor? You can say no.

I mean, I have in the past, I haven't I definitely aren't I'm not keeping up. Unfortunately, I'm not keeping up either. But I mean, I've been known to drink white wine and watch The Bachelor. And it's like the self care. It's self care, but it's like, I mean, it's horrendous. And it's a display of literally everything wrong with the world. Or I was going to say, is it self care? Listen to the beauty episode.

It's really in a in a way in like a in a white wine mockery way. It has its benefits, but I would watch it with my friend, Kat Burns. Catherine M. Burns is a goddamn American hero and Emmy winning choreographer on the show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and pretty much any funny show in the last 10 years that has a scene involving dancing. Remember the aerobics mountdown sketch from key and peel? Yeah, she choreographed that. She's amazing. Also, we share the same birthday.

We haven't watched it in years. But like you if you haven't been following the season and then he like has to propose it to people, you're like, I don't give a shit. Who are these people? Why are they in ball gowns? I don't care who he who he asked. But if you've been watching the whole season, you're like, oh, my God. He said he loved her.

The more context you have for anything in your life, the more enriching of an experience it is. And so I think that understanding that science is everywhere and getting tapped into that and knowing that like as a human person, you have a right to own science too. It's not just for people in lab coats. It's not for people with certain degrees. It all affects your life. And like one thing about this podcast that I was really afraid.

I was like, scientists are going to hate this podcast. They're going to think it's dumb. They're going to think that it's I'm making stuff too easy. They're going to they're going to write me every week and be like, you said this molecule wrong. And I was like, oh, my God, scientists are going to be so mean to me. Like I'm nervous and like I put I have this friend, Casey Hanmer, and he's married to this amazing another amazing scientist, Christine Corbett.

And they're both like at JPL. They're the smartest people I've ever met. They just had a baby and they're the smartest people I've ever met. And I remember thinking they're going to hate this podcast because it's going to be like two below them. And they're like my biggest supporters. They're such cheerleaders. It always boggles me that scientists listen to this podcast

because I was afraid I was like not going to do it well enough. And it turns out that like scientists are super curious about other people's fields and and I guess scientists were like ready to learn about something in like a lighter, more lighthearted way with like more talk about buttholes and stuff. Yeah, keep it casual, but also learning. I almost feel like they're probably scientists are probably more understanding because it's so hard. They are and like and I rarely get corrections.

And if I do, they're like warm, gentle, like, oh, hey, you know what? Actually, this thing like crocodiles might not be Germanized in this hemisphere. They might mostly be Virgos and I'd asked on Twitter and I'd done a bunch of research and like they're in different hemispheres. So it's someone from a crocodile conservation society was like, hey, just. And I was like, that's dope. There was one question that I thought was very interesting from Jacqueline Jacote's jacket, J-A-C-O-T.

Do you feel like an outsider in the SiCom community? If so, how did you overcome that? Oh, that's a great. That's such a nice question. I had this problem when I was doing like UCB storytelling and monologues at Ask Cat and comedy stuff. And then also like worked for a cooking channel. And like I felt like, you know, the comedy person in the cooking world and like the cooking person in the comedy world.

And I was like, well, and then I kind of felt the same with science where I felt like the comedy person in the science world. And then, you know, I would be hanging out with comedians and I would be like, oh, what the fuck is a spider? And so I think for a while, it frustrated me that I didn't have my both my feet in one world. And then I realized, like, I was talking to my friend, Kara San Maria, who has this great podcast called Talk Nerdy. And she was talking about how she's like, that's your strength.

You need to like you need to accept that, that you're more of the voice of the listener. We joke that I'm like the Huell Houser of the science world. Huell Houser, RIP, was an American television personality, actor, producer, writer, singer and voice artist best known for hosting, producing and writing California's gold. His human interest show produced by KCET in Los Angeles for PBS. Allie describes him best. He would ask these questions on camera that were like,

he'd go up to like a water fountain and be like, well, what's this? And he'd be like, there's a water fountain. You know, how does it work? But he was just like unabashedly curious. And so I kind of feel like in the science world, I can be I'm I am allowed to really ask questions for the listener, maybe that. Other maybe other people would be afraid of like losing cred. Well, I think at this point, I think scientists are realising that they need

to win over regular people. Like like those, you know, it again, this world is so scary and it's it's hard to get funding for anything. So I think I mean, it's just you want people to care. And I in different science communicators all have their own different voice. Like I feel really lucky that I'm friends with a whole group of scientists and science communicators. We call ourselves the nerd brigade.

It started from a very dumb, stupid, like we all started hanging out because it was Valentine's Day and like some of us didn't have dates. And I sent out an email and I was like, hey, anyone want to get a brigade and nerds together and just go get some drinks and talk about the worst mating rituals in nature. And a couple of people were like, hell, yeah, I'm in. So like four of us, Kyle Hill, who's now the science editor at Nerdist, my friend Holly, who listens.

Hi, Holly Bender. She works at JPL and then Phil Torres, who has a TV show that starts same day as mine on October 6th. He's like and he was a lipid uptrologist. We all just like got together and told these superstories, but it then became like this, hey, brigade and nerds like so, you know, because they're all professional and they're together, like they ended up like doing a website and a Twitter handle.

But all of them, like Cara, Santa Maria, like, you know, Phil, Kyle, there's Crystal, like they're all amazing and they all everyone has different a different voice in what they do. And it's like one might be really good at like science and tech communication and like, you know, like Harris is amazing neuroscientist. You can go into like a live brain surgery and like know what the fuck she's talking about. So I think if anyone's considering science communication, it's just like

figure out what your passion, what your voice is and what you offer and lean toward that. Sophia Garbus asks, have there been any allergies that you wanted to do an episode on but thought maybe we, the audience wouldn't be interested in? She said any that you are avoiding. And then I thought April Farr's question was a good follow up. She said, did you ever meet somebody you would love to interview and you really try hard to make a case for them being an oligist, but you just can't

quite get there. I thought those two questions were kind of like, like there's kind of a middle ground. There are some that I know people will be interested in, but I'm afraid of like, I'm afraid of it being too woo woo. Like there's an herbologist, I know, who's really awesome. And she's so funny and she listens and she also just acupuncture. And I want to do, I want to do a deep dive on that, on like Eastern medicine and acupuncture.

And I am afraid of, I'm afraid of trying to toe the line between like, okay, what, what do the scientific studies say versus what's anecdotal? And I don't want to bring on an oligist who, I don't want to expose them to like a bunch of people, naysaying necessarily. Of course, yeah. And so, and I won't know until I do the episode, really like, what kind of like, what the outcome is. And so there are ones that I'm like, that could be an amazing episode.

And I could learn a ton about Eastern medicine and I could find a bunch of stories and like actual, you know, double blind, you know, studies that totally support it. And that could be revolutionary for like, for me personally to learn, I don't ever, ever, ever want to make any oligists feel bad on the show. Yeah. And so I never want to like call into question, maybe their field. So I think that's one that I'm like, I, I want to like try and maybe anyone

listening, if they have doubts on this, like, let me know. But there's, and I'm trying to think of people who I'm like, can we make this an oligy? Yeah. I think botany is one of those ones that were like, I have to find individual subsets of botany to make it, you know, like to make it, like dendrology is kind of botany, but it's true. So I'm like, and that's another one where I'm like, Casey Klapp, come on,

you're a dendrologist. He's like, well, I don't, and I'm like, come on. It's just funny that we're talking about this because Haley, Holings, Haley, she says, what oligy do you wish existed, but it doesn't. Oh my God. Oh, an oligy that I wish existed that doesn't. Oh my God. What would be my, my favorite thing?

No, I'm sure there's vulpinology. I would love to interview someone about Foxes one day. In attempting to search for any vulpinologists, I stumbled across a public library website straight out of late nineties, GeoCities, advertising a vulpinology program that quote, teaches people what it takes to be a Fox, learn about life in a Fox family, which starts with courtship, choosing a den and raising their young. The kids in the audience will be the young Foxes in the simulation and will

learn what Foxes eat, the purpose of play, how to hunt and how to claim their own territory as they grow older. Folks will learn a little bit about the language of Foxes and their incredible ability to adapt to almost any environment. Should I sign Ali up to this class as a present for a birthday this year? I wouldn't love to do one on addiction. I don't know what, um, I know that that's like not a very fun one. I should have been like cotton candy oligists or something candy mountain.

You feel me with sweet sugary goodness. Go inside the candy mountain cave, Charlie. Yeah, Charlie. We're like corn dog oligists. Like yes to all of those. That's me one day. You're definitely a corn dog oligist. I'm working on it.

Working on my masters right now. Maybe one day I'll get my PhD. You've sent me multiple pictures of corn dogs this week and I'm like here for it. Well, that's how, but also just because like, cause I work on totally lame, which you were also on recently. And so it's like, you guys had that whole conversation about hot dogs. Television writer Elizabeth Lame and her husband, music producer, Andy Rosen host a legendary podcast called totally lame.

That was one of the pillars of the LA comedy podcast scene when I first moved here when they revamped the show in 2018. I was brought on to edit the show and it's been one of the consistent joys of my week ever since. Obviously, I was stoked when Ali was a guest recently. And if you're curious, it features Elizabeth's amazing interviewing skills. As Ali puts it, yeah, Elizabeth has his Elizabeth. Lame has this great way of making you just like you walk into her house

and she gives you like a cookie and then it's like a weird truth serum. And suddenly you're just unspooling your darkest, deepest secrets. And you're like, I love this. Look, if you're a fan of Ali and oligies, her totally lame episode is essential listening and another peek behind the curtain, just like this episode. And you should just be listening to totally lame anyway, because you'll laugh about just how weird being a person is in this world. I totally recommend it.

Alicia are Schievel. I think that's how you say your last name, Schievel. She says, what's the most mind blowing fact you've learned doing the podcast so far? I'm never not going to be fully shook to my core about dino digs crossing less than a used Camry. Like that's going to to my grave. I feel like I think about that several times a week or I'll just be like 10 G's. You can dig up a dinosaur.

You can find a whole dinosaur excavation for like less than my car is worth. Yeah. What? Yeah. Well, that's that's the kind of thing. I that's like one of those facts from episodes that I'll tell people all the time. That's such a weird one. And also the butterflies are disgusting. Like, yeah, there's ones in each episode. But yeah, butterflies being just filthy is great.

Again, like the PR for the Seven Wonders of the World. Like apparently butterflies have had a great PR agent for all these years. Like moths have been like, what the hell? I know. Moths get the shafted whales. Whales are like, peep, peep, peep, peep. Everybody loves me. But yeah, yeah, dolphins. They've had really good PR people.

Yeah. And they're horrible. They're like they're totally perpetrators of sexual assault. Meanwhile, sharks are like, I'm just out here. Hey, guys, I'm just trying to get along with my razor teeth. Somebody had a question about do you approach guests like because some people it's cold turkey and some people you have a relationship with. And yeah, I feel like I'm somebody who's like, I always want to like meet the person first and say hi.

I'm very like probably overly cautious. But because you've reached out to people called turkey, you've known people for years, like the whole thing. Oh, yeah, I do both. Like Leela Higgins, entomologist I've known her for years. You know, Phil Torres, left doctorologist, going to his wedding this weekend. Oh, my gosh, I know he got the bug shoes. His fiance, Celia, got him the Gucci bug shoes.

I'm so and I like saw his Instagram story. But I almost cried. But so some of them I've known for years. And then most of them, though, I'm just like, they do not know me at all. And I just show up in their inbox, like all caps enthusiasm. And I'm like, you want me to be in a hotel room? So I can ask you about your personal life. It's very weird.

I was nervous about doing this one just because I'm I like I have this I have a deep fear that no one actually gives a shit about me. Like I have a I have a fear that like that this would be just TMI. And everyone be like, OK, like so I don't know. But I think like when it comes to social media and like promoting my own stuff, like I struggle with that a little bit because it feels like it feels narcissistic or something when I'm like promoting stuff for oligies. I feel like I'm promoting the oligist.

Again, when I first started listening to slumber party and was just so inspired because it was talking about those things you're passionate about, it just made me realize like, why don't I just why don't I like that's almost like a form of manifestation where I'm like, why don't instead of trying to like, yeah, promote myself in a way that's like feels false or something. It's like, oh, I just want to talk about, you know, cats and dinosaurs and science and true crime. It's like in pop music.

Why don't I just fill up my if this is going to feel like such a chore to do something like this? Why don't I just fill it up with the things that I really care about? Yeah. Instead of molding yourself to what you think people want, just mold your life to what you want it to be and the right people will stick around. Yes. And that's like, I feel like that's true with personal lives.

I feel like it's true with business stuff. Like the best thing that you can be about like your work and your life is passionate. My very talented friend and former roommate, Evan Kerna at Art of EvanK on Instagram. And I used to have a joke in college that every alumni in the industry who came back and lectured in our classes would say that the key to success was quote unquote, be passionate and work hard. At the time, as a barely 20-something, we didn't quite understand what that meant. But now over 10 years later, I get it.

It's about the push to be your authentic self, no matter what. If I'm trying to make people trying to convince people that I have a life that's very glamorous and that I'm very cool and smart and hang out with cool people. If if that. Hey, hanging with the closet is really glamorous. We're hanging out in your closet right now. This is very glamorous. It is funny because we're recording like into an entire wardrobe of like

vintage dresses and stuff, which is very glamorous. But the fact that there's also like laundry right next to it is not glamorous. But I would rather be doing that than doing a project that didn't feel like me. So of course, people wanted to ask this question, two questions, technically. Krista, Vompado, Claire, Bittiscombe, Bittiscombe. I was like, I feel like you know who all these people are. I know, I know a lot of your names. The dedicated patrons, Claire Bittiscombe.

I think Bittiscombe is right. Bittiscombe and Akie, Akie. They all ask, of course, what's the best thing about doing this podcast and what's the worst thing about doing this podcast? Classicology question. Hit me with my own questions. Oh, dear. OK, the worst thing.

Let's start with the worst thing ever about the podcast. I don't like doing social media because it's it ends up taking so much time. I could have done so much editing in the time that it took me to post this. It really does. And it's a thing where people say, hey, why don't you use like a scheduler and stuff? But they just don't the third party app think they don't work well. They don't work either. That's the main thing I would want an intern for,

which I still haven't hired an intern. If anyone wrote me a letter of being like, I didn't turn for you. And then you're like, I guess I didn't get picked because no one did because I've been too busy to vet people. But and also I want to make sure that anyone who interns for me like actually gets life experience that is valuable to them. And not just is like doing it to help out. Well, of course, yeah, that's I'm 100 percent the same way.

It's like I never want I never want to turn around and do the things that I've, you know, sometimes had to do for people and, you know, trying to make it in this industry. You're like, I don't want to put anybody else throughout that. Like I want to break the chain of that, you know, only if it will possibly help them and they can use it as a credit to get them toward their goal instead of just being nice. But I think, yeah, so social media, for some reason, is always a little bit of a time suck. What was the best part?

Oh, the best part. Oh, my God. Oh, my gosh. The best part about doing this podcast is feeling like I have like I have a voice that's authentic. Like I think I I loved doing the food TV stuff, you know, to a certain extent. Like, but I feel like I feel like the even the science TV stuff I do, I still have to be like Saturday morning broadcast alley. You know, I get to be a version of myself, but it's a more polished version.

It's a more like more energy, more energy kind of a thing. And so but with allergies, I feel like I can it's like whether you like it or hate it. It's very much me. And so, you know, the weirdest thing about it is like knowing that knowing that my parents listen to it, I'm like, which they have never listened to any podcasts I've done in the past. And like, but there's a weird kind of bittersweet thing where it's like even the people who are so close to you, like having them know the true you,

that I'm like that I do swear like a sailor and I'm like kind of gross and have kind of a darker sense of humor. Like I think those are even things that I've hidden from some people in my real life, you know, not just not not even just like the public at large. And so I think that that this has been a really big exercise in in bravery. That's I think why it was so scary putting it up because it's like, what if you put this up and like everyone hates it, you know what I mean? You're like, oh, no.

So yeah, there's a vulnerability there. Yeah, it's always better if you're real. Everything's always better if you're real. And so this question was from Kelly Windsor from Micah Eckerd. Greg Nick, Laura Estrada and Jamie Cutanock. Again, I apologize, everyone. This is a lot harder than I thought being on this end of it. I was like, I can pronounce everyone's names.

Fine. All right. Not so easy. Just ask Rada Vakarya, whose name I said Rodka, because my my mouth like jumped to her last name and put a K in their first name. And so Rada, sorry. Rada knows that if I mispronounce their name again, then they get a puppy. Yeah. Oh, I like that. Keeps you. It's like tipped.

It's money in the swear jar. Yeah, pretty much. So they'll ask some variation of what is the end goal for the podcast? I'd love for it to go on forever. But when will you feel you did your dream justice? Oh, that is a I've never thought about that kind of question before. You're like, I just want to achieve my dreams. What do you mean? Finishing the dream?

Yeah. What does that even mean? Oh, my God. If this point, if someone was like, turns out podcast or over, you can't do it anymore. I think I'd be like, OK, I gave it a good crack. I think I'm the the biggest thing was like this was a concept I wanted to do for so long that like the fact that I now can like claim to the concept is like the biggest thing. Like right before I put it up, you know, we'd been working on it for like nine months. I had started an Instagram account. I think I started a Twitter.

Like I had the art all done. I had recorded a bunch. I was almost I was almost done with just Phoenix episode and someone on another podcast who's like this really big YouTuber and stuff who I know through. I've never met him before, but we have mutual friends said that he wanted to do a podcast biology. So I was like, are you fucking kidding me? Like I have the art like it was supposed to go up in the next like week or two. And I emailed him and I was like, hey, dude, I heard that you wanted to do this.

I don't know if you know, but I've been I have an Instagram account. I've been talking about this for like months and months. Maybe it's great minds. Who knows? But I'm just about to release this. So are you really going to do any stuff I probably want? And I was like, OK, so I put it up that night. I put up that night because I was like, I just have to get this out there enough dicking around. And so being able to say that like this is an idea that I got to do in like,

oh, there's a weird ology. Talk to Ali Ward about it is like that to me is like doing a justice. I finally made it. So that was a big deal. But I think, oh, my God, I think I would love to keep doing it for as long as I can, because I just think that it gets more and more interesting. At this point, I would say that getting this far doing a year's worth. There is part of me that's like really wants to be number one on the science charts,

even just for five minutes. You know what I mean? Yeah, I always look because like this week we were number 10, we go up and down. But like I look at like the hidden brains and the radio labs and all of these ones that are produced by people who work in offices and not their closets. And I'm like, I want to like I want to get up. I want to just top the science charts just for a day would be so cool. People ask, do you think you're ever going to run out of ologies?

And I was like, dude, are there things on earth? There's an ology for everything on earth. Like look at an object. Anyone listening to this, like look at an object around you. There's like a science behind it. And there's that means there's someone who does it. You know what I mean? Well, that's been fun about the show, too, is that you're not necessarily like,

all right, I'm going to start with biology. You know, you're kind of following the muse as opposed to like I have to get I have to be like the one on one topic. Oh, no. Yeah, there's this thing. This whole shebangs on shuffle, dude. I don't know what's coming up next. I have no idea. Everyone has their own playlist of ologies of right order.

Who knows? I my whole the way that I schedule out the episodes, too, is I just write the episode and the ones that I've recorded, I write them on an index card. And then I have them like a deck of cards so that I like stagger them out. And I'm like, OK, these two would go together. Actually, let's take this one and put this down here. So like I always have a little pocket full of a lick of index cards. And then I'm always shuffling them around.

I don't know. I think I think I. Yeah, I just want to keep making it and I want to get better at sleeping. That's another thing I want to do is I need I need to be better at sleeping at hours night. There was a few self care questions in there. And it's like, look, we know the answer to that. We're working on it. I am interviewing a sleep specialist Friday. Oh, yeah.

Wait, just for I was going to say just for fun or for have you met me? You think I did the I did the sensory depth tank. How was it? It was it wasn't game changing, but I liked it. So all right. That's my one thing I will say for everyone. It was it was great. And maybe other people will get something out of it.

But it wasn't game changing. I'm trying to be I'm trying to get better at like a life work balance. But it's hard when you like your work a lot when it's like I do enjoyed. Like I'm not mad at researching Cleopatra and her like twin birth. Like I'm not mad at that. I'm like, oh, my God, I'm learning so much. So but I do need to wash my hair more. Thank you for recording this with me because it feels like very silly.

But for me to be like, let me give you life advice. But it is also really nice that anyone cares about the voice behind the ologists. No, I think people do. And I think, yeah, again, thank you to everybody who submitted questions. Hopefully we got to hopefully we got to some of it. Right. Some of it. Thanks, Ali. All right.

Thanks, Stephen. Me more is corn dogs for life. As always, ask smart people dumb questions, even if they aren't officially an oligist, follow oligies on Twitter and Instagram at oligies and follow Ali Ward at Ali Ward on Twitter and Instagram as well. Plus, there are links in the show notes. Be sure to watch. Did I mention invention this Saturday, October 6th on the CW Network?

There are also links to support the show on Patreon at patreon.com, such oligies, and you can get amazing merch at oligies merch.com. Feel free to tag or DM photos of you in it for hashtag oligies. Merge for Merch Mondays on Instagram. Thank you, Bonnie Dutch and Shannon Feltas for always helping with the merch. And of course, thank you to Aaron Talbot and Hannah Lippo for admitting the greatest place on the internet, the oligies Facebook group. Nick Thorburn made the music and is in a band called Islands.

And you can find me, Stephen Ray Morris on Twitter and Instagram and listen to my podcast, The Perkast, the Jurassic right and popular music if cats, dinosaurs and or pop music is your thing. This week's secret, my first P.I. job in Los Angeles was a blue man group video. Since it was shot on a white background, it became my job to index the blue smudges they left behind on the floor. Yep.

OK, for buying. You see, when we go to a location, we think we know what we're going to be doing. But while we're there, we always find out about 10 or 15 new stories that we'd like to do. We'd also like to thank you for watching and invite you to tune in again next time.