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[0:00] Aabria Iyengar: Welcome to Ale! And Well Met! This is Episode 23, Warm Times Pool Party Smooches.

[0:10] Diego F. Salinas: It's been a long week of rehearsals for Aabria's DM debut, and there's a polar vortex outside.

[0:20] Aabria Iyengar: Yeah, we’re all just fully reclined right now.

[0:30] Jasmine Malave: I mean, who wouldn’t want to be fully reclined during a polar vortex?

[0:40] Maddie Murphy: Exactly! It’s the perfect time to talk about first kisses and middle school dating.

[0:50] Diego F. Salinas: Oh man, that takes me back. I was such an awkward nerd trying to figure out proper lip technique.

[1:00] Aabria Iyengar: Same! I think we all were.

[1:10] Michael Fell: You know, I have a barely believable first kiss story.

[1:20] Jasmine Malave: Oh, do tell!

[1:30] Michael Fell: So, I was at this summer camp, and there was this girl I really liked.

[1:40] Maddie Murphy: Classic summer camp romance!

[1:50] Michael Fell: Right? So, we were playing truth or dare, and I got dared to kiss her.

[2:00] Aabria Iyengar: No pressure, right?

[2:10] Michael Fell: Exactly! So, I leaned in, and I totally missed her lips and ended up kissing her cheek instead.

[2:20] Diego F. Salinas: Oh no!

[2:30] Jasmine Malave: That’s so relatable!

[2:40] Michael Fell: I was mortified. But she laughed it off, and we ended up being friends.

[2:50] Maddie Murphy: That’s a win in my book!

[3:00] Aabria Iyengar: It’s great that you could laugh about it.

[3:10] Diego F. Salinas: I think that’s the key to surviving those awkward moments.

[3:20] Jasmine Malave: For sure!

[3:30] Maddie Murphy: So, what about everyone else? Any first kiss stories?

[3:40] Aabria Iyengar: I think mine was in middle school too.

[3:50] Diego F. Salinas: Same!

[4:00] Jasmine Malave: I was so nervous.

[4:10] Maddie Murphy: I think we all were!

[4:20] Aabria Iyengar: It’s such a rite of passage.

[4:30] Diego F. Salinas: And it’s always awkward!

[4:40] Jasmine Malave: But that’s what makes it memorable, right?

[4:50] Maddie Murphy: Absolutely!

[5:00] Aabria Iyengar: So, what’s the most awkward part of your first kiss?

[5:10] Diego F. Salinas: For me, it was definitely the build-up.

[5:20] Jasmine Malave: Same! The anticipation was killer.

[5:30] Maddie Murphy: And then the actual kiss was just...

[5:40] Aabria Iyengar: A disaster?

[5:50] Diego F. Salinas: Pretty much!

[6:00] Jasmine Malave: But we survived, and now we can laugh about it!

[6:10] Maddie Murphy: Exactly!

[6:20] Aabria Iyengar: So, what’s the takeaway from all this?

[6:30] Diego F. Salinas: Embrace the awkwardness!

[6:40] Jasmine Malave: Yes!

[6:50] Maddie Murphy: And don’t take it too seriously.

[7:00] Aabria Iyengar: Great advice!

[7:10] Diego F. Salinas: So, what’s next on the agenda?

[7:20] Jasmine Malave: More stories?

[7:30] Maddie Murphy: I’m down for that!

[7:40] Aabria Iyengar: Let’s keep the nostalgia going!

[7:50] Diego F. Salinas: I love it!

[8:00] Jasmine Malave: This is literally what it’s like to hang out backstage at the Tavern.

[8:10] Maddie Murphy: So true!

[8:20] Aabria Iyengar: Alright, let’s dive into more memories!

[8:30] Diego F. Salinas: I’m ready!

[8:40] Jasmine Malave: Let’s do this!

[8:50] Maddie Murphy: Bring on the stories!

[9:00] Aabria Iyengar: And don’t forget, if you want to adventure with us, get tickets to the show!

[9:10] Diego F. Salinas: Yes!

[9:20] Jasmine Malave: Join the Discord!

[9:30] Maddie Murphy: Follow us on Instagram and TikTok!

[9:40] Aabria Iyengar: And check out our website for more info!

[9:50] Diego F. Salinas: We can’t wait to see you!

[10:00] Jasmine Malave: Thanks for hanging out with us!

[10:10] Maddie Murphy: Until next time!

[10:20] Aabria Iyengar: Bye!

[10:30] Diego F. Salinas: Bye!

[10:40] Jasmine Malave: Bye!

[10:50] Maddie Murphy: Bye!

[11:00] Aabria Iyengar: See you soon!

[11:10] Diego F. Salinas: Stay warm!

[11:20] Jasmine Malave: And stay nerdy!

[11:30] Maddie Murphy: Always!

[11:40] Aabria Iyengar: Bye for now!

[11:50] Diego F. Salinas: Bye!

[12:00] Jasmine Malave: Bye!

[12:10] Maddie Murphy: Bye!

[12:20] Aabria Iyengar: Until next time!

[12:30] Diego F. Salinas: Bye!

[12:40] Jasmine Malave: Bye!

[12:50] Maddie Murphy: Bye!

[13:00] Aabria Iyengar: Bye!

[13:10] Diego F. Salinas: Bye!

[13:20] Jasmine Malave: Bye!

[13:30] Maddie Murphy: Bye!

[13:39] Michael Fell: Met my now wife at a friend's birthday party when I'd been in New York City for five weeks and she just was like yoink and uh nope that was like right as all of it was taking off yeah yeah absolutely her joke was she was like yeah I slapped blinders on him and just started leading him around the city it was like nope no other girls no other ladies you're fine and I didn't have to learn the subway system it was great win-win uh let's see I was on Tinder that was wild also because I was on Tinder when I was perfect Tinder fodder meaning heartbroken rebounding generally unwell and just like whatever I'm not looking for a real connection I'm looking for a distraction baby in New York City um and then I actually I have been on Hinge and I met my last partner and we were together for three years and so like it's definitely it's what just designed right like it's you're supposed to date look for connection and dating apps in general like all of them technically you could meet someone on there and any of them are also fodder for like the people who are you could also just hook up but yeah it was it was nice nowadays I'm like I don't I don't even know what to do I I wouldn't even begin now they have all these prompts and stuff but I think more and more I was like you don't get to know me that way I'm just going to write nachos for everything and let you figure it out not just not just not just not just I that's the thing though political orientation not just I feel like you're really that that's you putting your actual personality out there so hard if it just says not just not just not just not just not just Maddie like right but that is the curation and now these apps speaking again of like psych they they have a lot of this psychos they say psych evals in it where there's so much about like well your prompts should present this about you and the ordering of your photos should present this and you should only have one to two photos that show you socialize the rest should be it's all the curation of it is such that where I was like nah this is why you get nachos because really if you want to know me just see me when I first wake up in the morning there are whole businesses like that are oriented around like like a kind of a dating consultant who will rework your entire like Tinder profile Hinge profile whatever I mean everybody in this room has a manager yeah right it's a social media manager 100 because that is your social media it's just not a very specific page your love life manager it's your your sexual media I'm gonna get 10% of every kiss you make so no prune kisses yeah love all the way if there's tongue I get 12% you have to have meetings like debrief with these people after dates I just can't imagine like what went well who are we meeting what do we need to constantly update your profile yeah it sounds terrible I'm good I'm happy locked in okay that I feel like is you not having a group of female friends to which you report like what you just described is going to the board of ladies and be like yeah so how did we do I mean what's happening now that you say that I mean and then knowing me like think of course I did of course I clearly did like I I remember sitting uh and texting my wife at the restaurant that I was working at like everybody back uh about an even spread pretty solid New York restaurant like demographic of like and my friend Christy was involved in this uh who Jasmine also used to bartend with like like like sending texts like we're in fucking middle school and being like oh my god yeah but I mean it also is so exciting my current partner I did meet in person randomly and that we just so happened to be at the same mutual friend show for five minutes and he did the thing of he he was nervous which was adorable and charmed me baby and uh and asked for my number and then immediately upon getting my number went I would like to ask you on a date and I went this is all incredibly normal human behavior that somehow is special now so this is lovely just the idea that you would get your number and be like cool uh can I call you about like fixing my roof like what is it yeah I know that that's what this number's for dude yeah he gaslit me about he said he needed a roof repair I also do roof repairs and I was desperate for money what a nervous thing to say call you about my roof no what was it he he had said like may I get your number it would be really cool to try to see you again um and I was just like okay and then walked away went never gonna hear from that guy my wife didn't remember what I looked like to our third date how about that we got we we hooked up the first one was there was it was my friend Christy's birthday party and it went long and late and good and we took over a karaoke bar and at the end of it Christy was talking to our other friend and they were like you know who would be a really good couple actually Alex and oh nope okay they figured it out they're ahead of us we were it was a full-on plumbing it in the middle of uh in the sing sing on avenue a which again just anyone tuning in now because that sounded way more full-on plumbing it full-on smooches just just plums on plums plumbing did you turn the dial to aylen wombat just kind of randomly skipping into the middle of pods like I wonder where we're at just see what they're talking about listen to bria sometimes I'm like too much preamble I'm going in at hour one yeah no no I want to be extremely confused and figure it out from there so daddy of you doing that smooches not laying pipe I've hated it forever it's the oh god also that's Michael's here he's yelling in the background yeah baby y'all need to y'all need to get on the gay apps it's a whole new friend oh no I was actually okay yeah Michael yeah like for a moment listen first of all first kiss please oh first of all first kiss first kiss was with the Guatemalan girl and named Orly in Knoxville Tennessee we were we kissed on a um on a blow up uh ride all of this sounds invented I feel like you are making you are making this up as you go stop what is the blow what the fuck is a blow up are you talking about like the titanic thing where you slide down it like a big slide there was we were at we were at this like national competition for creative nerds and called destination imagination you are making up every detail no that's real we were paired together girl at nerd cam you wouldn't know her she doesn't go here she's a go here yeah you guys didn't meet her you never would have met her she's her name's Orly this is you doing pulling a usual suspects kaiser sozay you're glancing around the room for inspiration Guatemala girl and you did it poorly El Salvador would have been too obvious you had to go one country over look at me it was like Tennessee her dad was the uh empire of a Tupperware he was a Tupperware magnate okay um and they were very rich and uh we were paired with them as a cultural exchange program so they learned about farming in Wisconsin and we learned about um Guatemala and Tupperware then why were you in Tennessee if you learned about farming in Wisconsin it was a global we had we had won all of the state competitions and we made it to global competition which that you're happy to be held in Knoxville Tennessee we were an improv team in fifth grade and we fucking kicked it out of the park we had this with the smallest little kid in the world named Merle and we put him inside a little cardboard box for our for our show and when when you mentioned Merle yep I'm just continuing to look around the room and we pushed it we pushed the box on stage and did our our sketch improvised sketch and then Merle would burst out halfway through and scare the shit out of everybody and really the shock factor is what got us to the global competition I'm gonna need you just to just to do an interrogation technique repeat that story again orally destination imagination Knoxville Tennessee I I gave her a uh I gave her my pair of cow spotted pants and she gave me her t-shirt which I slept with on the bus home and cried because I missed her so much oh I still smelled like her yeah my sweetie oh rly I'll never forget we I'm a sucker for a scent a scent are you coming out as bi right now what's happening this is adorable yeah you know everyone's a little bit bi sure um yeah yeah she was the best oh we talked on MSN messenger for a while and until that went away you know we faded to black what was what were y'all's what were y'all's handles couldn't fucking remember my god I wish I did I wish I knew so orally if you're listening so orally if you're listening this is a misconnection yeah get at me girl I'm gonna get stage management at 20 side of tavern.com listen Michael is deeply in love with his fiancee but you've got until September and then it's locked down all right so tell us just tell us about the gay dating apps oh jesus what do you I know like grinder was like the first big one that me as a heterosexual was aware of like what what was what was the vibe like on grinder just like on anywhere I mean from the rise of the apps so like I know now there are probably a lot more options sure yeah I mean I did it all baby I was on I was on grinder I was on Tinder I was on all of them grinder is just about hookups though right there's it's usually no strings attached it's geotagging so you can it's very fun to go travel abroad when I was in Australia I download grinder just to see what's up get a lay of the land and see that there's a man eight feet away from you who's looking to look a bone down absolutely shocking and you look to your left and you see that it's just a bird in sunglasses holding a phone but talk about catfishing that is the next level it's horny ostrich yeah yeah it's really casual I think you know hooking up in the gay community is such a it's it's can be transactional in a way that's like great so you know if you're lonely if you're traveling if you're doing whatever but it's also really weird I've met a lot of my really good friends on grinder from like hookups that either we did or didn't hook up like we would I have one friend in particular who in Minneapolis I met on grinder we got together and we both mutually were like oh we shouldn't have sex the vibe is off but you like video games and then we play video games and now like 15 years later we're still he moved to New York I moved to New York we're still friends like it's not uncommon it's just it's wild I think I want to download grinder just to like find friends like a good way to buy weed too when you go somewhere good to know well here's what I do like what you described though where it's it sounds like it's so straightforward in a refreshing way where it's like this is what I'm looking for from you are you looking for the same thing let's meet up and see if that that works and because otherwise dating like the games of dating yeah it's and the mind games and the just the simply like like have y'all ever been ghosted because it it happens a lot on dating apps and I have been ghosted but in a way where it was just like it it's confusing to me on a human level to go all you had to do was say like actually I've changed my mind or anything yeah but what if I freak out when you say that or what if I change my mind and I actually don't want that the worst option of all it's even well even then let's say which I don't agree with doing but you could you could express yourself and then be like and I'm going to delete your number because I don't want to hear from you anymore yeah I mean I agree I could but it's just it was just this thing of like what um anyway it's also in New York I think it's the there's too many choices people are really there's there's so many fish in the sea it's like oh I could just I could get something better nowadays too it's so easy to block and ghost somebody like I know I was talking to my uh a cousin of mine who's uh in college right now and he was saying he had like a disagreement with someone that he talked to and just instantly like blocked them on social media and it's like that was really fast like you know protect your peace etc etc but like how when does it become a little too easy to avoid any conflict sure and like how does that like they must go to a big-ass school too like I can't imagine like I I went to a very small liberal arts school in the middle of nowhere too so like the university of the south Suwannee Tennessee that exists it does crazy yep it's a weird it's a weird place it's like redneck orally coated you made that up it's it's it's like redneck Harry Potter man I wore a big gown to school the class every day and I walked around walked around like a fucking honky-tonk wizard in Tennessee hanging out it was super weird to go to school there but uh yeah man but it was like 1500 kids yeah on in like a very small place so like yeah more summer camp vibes but you couldn't have blocked all this shit was fledgling anyway right because I'm old but like there was no you couldn't have the idea of like blocking someone I don't think it existed yeah like you're just gonna run into him at like the lunchroom yeah was that a name of one of the bars the lunchroom I also want to mention that but it would be a really good bar name yeah the lunchroom Michael now is wandering around the room so he has to pick which microphone he wants to say he he just appeared

[27:18] Aabria Iyengar: Welcome back to Ale! And Well Met! Today, we’re diving into some fun topics, and I’m excited to hear everyone’s stories.

[27:48] Diego F. Salinas: Yeah, it’s been a long week, and I think we all need a little bit of a break.

[28:18] Michael Fell: Absolutely! What better way to unwind than to share some embarrassing first kiss stories?

[28:38] Jasmin Malave: Oh, I have a good one! I was so awkward in middle school.

[28:58] Madelyn Murphy: Same here! I think we all were just a bunch of nerds trying to figure out how to kiss properly.

[29:18] Aabria Iyengar: Right? It’s like, what even is the technique?

[29:38] Diego F. Salinas: I remember my first kiss was in a game of spin the bottle. Super classic!

[29:58] Michael Fell: Mine was at a school dance, and it was so awkward. I think I just leaned in and missed!

[30:18] Jasmin Malave: Oh no! That’s the worst!

[30:38] Madelyn Murphy: I think I just panicked and went for it without any real plan.

[30:58] Aabria Iyengar: It’s funny how those moments stick with you, even years later.

[31:18] Diego F. Salinas: For sure! It’s like a rite of passage, right?

[31:38] Michael Fell: Definitely! And it’s always fun to hear how everyone else experienced it.

[31:58] Jasmin Malave: I feel like we all have those cringe-worthy stories.

[32:18] Madelyn Murphy: Oh, absolutely!

[32:38] Aabria Iyengar: So, what was the most embarrassing part for you guys?

[32:58] Diego F. Salinas: I think just the sheer panic of it all.

[33:18] Michael Fell: Mine was definitely the moment I realized I had no idea what I was doing!

[33:38] Jasmin Malave: Same here! It was like, do I close my eyes? Do I keep them open?

[33:58] Madelyn Murphy: And then there’s the whole “how long do I hold it?” question.

[34:18] Aabria Iyengar: Right? It’s like, do I pull away now or wait for a signal?

[34:38] Diego F. Salinas: And then you end up just standing there awkwardly.

[34:58] Michael Fell: Exactly! It’s a miracle any of us survived those moments.

[35:18] Jasmin Malave: Seriously!

[35:38] Madelyn Murphy: But looking back, it’s all part of growing up, right?

[35:58] Aabria Iyengar: Totally! It’s what makes those memories so special.

[36:18] Diego F. Salinas: And it’s great to laugh about it now.

[36:38] Michael Fell: For sure!

[36:58] Jasmin Malave: So, what’s the takeaway from all of this?

[37:18] Madelyn Murphy: Embrace the awkwardness!

[37:38] Aabria Iyengar: Yes! It’s all part of the journey.

[37:58] Diego F. Salinas: And who knows? Maybe we’ll have some more stories to share in the future.

[38:18] Michael Fell: I can’t wait for that!

[38:38] Jasmin Malave: Same here!

[38:58] Madelyn Murphy: Let’s keep the conversation going!

[39:18] Aabria Iyengar: Absolutely! Thanks for sharing your stories, everyone.

[39:38] Diego F. Salinas: And thanks to our listeners for tuning in!

[39:58] Michael Fell: We hope you enjoyed this little trip down memory lane.

[40:18] Jasmin Malave: Until next time, keep adventuring!

[40:48] Madelyn Murphy: Bye, everyone!