Keiko the Whale and Being Scared of the Ocean

Joanna tells Meredith about Keiko, the actor/whale who once flew on a UPS plane. Meredith explains why she belongs in a climate with clouds and sheep. 

Sources: The Good Whale 

Follow the show on Instagram @mywholepersonalitypod
Produced and edited by Joanna Clark
Theme music by Rebecca Jaffe
Podcast art by Michelle Hong (michelleyhong.com)

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Jellyfish in particular, because going back to the traumatic insight as a child, I f a jellyfish so much as comes in my anywhere close to me, that will be the fastest I ever move.

SPEAKER_02 0:13

They come out of nowhere too. And some of them will kill you immediately.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

Yeah, the box jellyfish. One thing you will never find me doing is Big Australia.

SPEAKER_00 0:23

I like this one thing. So I made it my whole thing. Now no one wants to talk to me at parties. Please listen to my spiel, because I made it my whole deal. I made it my whole personality.

SPEAKER_02 0:41

Yeah. Hey everyone, welcome back to My Whole Personality. This episode is with one of my dear friends, Meredith, and it's actually gonna be part one of two. Originally, we were gonna talk about Keiko the Whale and then her topic, the Beatles. But as we started talking about Keiko the Whale and the ocean, we both realized that we are terrified of the ocean, and so we ended up talking about it for much longer than I was expecting. So I ended up um just splitting this interview into two episodes. So next week I'll release the part of the interview where we talk about her topic, which is the Beatles. Have you heard of them? I'll be honest, I didn't. Um so enjoy this episode. Meredith is so funny. We are both incredibly um anxious people. Uh so it's kind of a problem when we're together, but it actually led to some really beautiful conversations about fear and um teeth. So enjoy, and I'll see you all next week. On the podcast today is one of my dear friends, Meredith. Hello. We actually met through her mom. Through my mom. As all great friends.

SPEAKER_01 1:58

With my mom first, I know it's funny. Shout out, Kathy.

SPEAKER_02 2:02

She used to drive me to work sometimes. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

Yeah, you we practically grew up very close. Well, just around the corner from each other, but I never met you until um I guess you moved here. We went to Stan's Donuts. Yeah, we did. And like I was supposedly some like bastion of Chicago knowledge how to do it. Well, you were like three years.

SPEAKER_02 2:23

You were. I was like, tell me about comedy, and you were like, oh, I'll tell you about comedy.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

I'll tell you. I was like old and grizzled after three years. Yeah. Yeah, that checks out.

SPEAKER_02 2:33

Um, and then I'm so glad that you started a book club because we haven't really done a book in a while, but it introduced me to I Call You All My Twilight Friends.

SPEAKER_01 2:40

Yeah, it's more just a social club, you know, without a brick and mortar place.

SPEAKER_02 2:44

Sure. And you guys have never come over, which I think is kind of rude of me.

SPEAKER_01 2:47

I mean, it's not rude of you, but I am like, what is she hiding?

unknown 2:50

I know.

SPEAKER_02 2:51

Let me pull up my notes for a minute. Um, I here are my notes on you. Porcelain skin. Oh.

unknown 3:00

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 3:01

Beautiful porcelain skin.

SPEAKER_01 3:03

Hopefully your video can't pick up the raging problem I have right now.

SPEAKER_02 3:07

What is it?

SPEAKER_01 3:07

Uh it's just a bad pimple. Oh. But like in the crevice of my big old chin. Oh. I see. I was like, you know, Meredith, don't overshare. Oh. Like that was my one rule for myself, and we're off too much too. That's okay.

SPEAKER_02 3:20

I had like a networking breakfast yesterday morning, and I was on the way there, like, really in my head, being like, You don't have leave, leave stuff, leave some mystery. You don't have to say everything.

SPEAKER_01 3:32

I wish there was a voice in my head that was like, just stop right there.

SPEAKER_02 3:36

Yeah. And I don't, and I mean I did my best for a while, but then at some point we were talking about I said something, he said something like, He brought up this podcast name first. Um, it's called Come Town. Okay. Okay, and then so when we were talking about, I've been there. Right. We were like having kids, and he's like, No, I mean, I'm not like, I don't know, I was like, you just spraying Come Town all over the networking event. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

Um I love that.

SPEAKER_02 4:04

Yeah, so I didn't I didn't follow my own rules, but I am working on that, like keeping some stuff um secret.

SPEAKER_01 4:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:09

But it's hard for me.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

Same. I I don't what is that compulsion within us where it's like I have to talk about is it just the reverse of shame?

SPEAKER_02 4:19

It might be because it's I truly like I don't mind to tell anybody anything.

SPEAKER_01 4:24

Yeah, pretty much me as well. Like sometimes I'll like leave a meeting at work and I'm like, I didn't need to say that. Right. Like I could have just closed my mouth. So that's why I'm excited to be on your podcast because I'm like, there's filters off, baby. I'm gonna talk, I'm gonna talk about. Well, I won't really answer the topic.

SPEAKER_02 4:44

Okay, so I'm gonna talk about something that I've made my whole personality, uh-huh, and then we'll get into yours. Okay. And um I'm just curious if you're familiar with Keiko the Whale. Um v yes.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

Not probably not to the depth that you are.

unknown 5:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:00

But I I am familiar with I didn't know it was Keiko. Yeah. Um, but I'm familiar with his his one work, or did he have multiple works?

SPEAKER_02 5:10

Um, I don't think they used him for Free Willy too. I actually don't know. But for those of you who don't know, he is the actor in he is the actor, the titular character in Free Willy.

SPEAKER_01 5:19

Yeah, I just like that. He was an actor.

SPEAKER_02 5:20

Like I'm imagining him like on a press tour, I mean, doing hot ones. Oh god, yeah. He would have died.

SPEAKER_01 5:30

Yeah, probably. And he did. Yeah. Yeah. I figured it was a while ago.

SPEAKER_02 5:34

But he, you know, the whole like Free Willy came out, and there were all these people being like, Oh my god, yeah, save the whales for sure. Like, we have to save the whales. And then they didn't even save the one whale that the movie was based on. He was living in like a really shallow, warm tank. So um, it's really important to whales to be able to spy hop. Are you familiar with spy hopping?

SPEAKER_01 5:54

No, but I'm curious. I love animal all animal things, so enlighten me.

SPEAKER_02 5:59

I love watching documentaries about whales in the ocean. Yeah, which we'll get to. But um, they really like to like dive vertically, and then I think when they dive vertically with their heads up, it's when they like sneak up on people. Oh, so it's just their heads coming up. And he wasn't able to do that. Um and he was also he never learned how to be a whale because he was kidnapped from his mom like when he was two. So in whale culture, boy whales are big mama's boys. Oh, they re they like live, they're like boy moms. Whales are boy moms, yeah. They live with their moms until they're like older than they should be. It's like failure to launch. Yeah, um, but they really rely on their moms for a lot of stuff, like to teach them how to be, you know, um whales. And so he didn't have that, so he like straight up doesn't know how to be a whale.

SPEAKER_01 6:48

Okay, that's tragic.

SPEAKER_02 6:50

I know. So after Free Willy came out, they're all like, we gotta do we gotta do something about uh the actor who played Free Willy. And I kind of forget what happens, but somehow they got him on a UPS plane. They put him in a tank and they put him on a UPS plane and they shipped him out to Oregon, and he had a really cool facility there, and they're basically trying to like rewild him, so teaching him how to be a whale because he didn't know how to eat live fish.

SPEAKER_01 7:20

Oh crazy.

SPEAKER_02 7:21

Well, and I feel like I'm like, oh no, I'm so bummed for this whale. It's really sad. Yeah, I'm actually like not gonna finish the story because it I was tearing up as I was refreshing because he looks so much like James, my cat James, that I just like picture like your cat. Yeah, like in the eyes, just the whole body. Oh yeah, he's James is like tuxedo. Oh, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_01 7:42

So he looks much like that.

SPEAKER_02 7:45

Yeah, and James does have a have a big blowhole on the back of his neck, yeah. But so the people that were there trying to like re-wild him were having to like smack fish, like stun them, and then throw them in. And he was like still not interested. He was like, I hate to be this person, but I think this fish is still alive.

SPEAKER_01 8:09

Yeah, like I prefer it frozen out of a bucket.

SPEAKER_02 8:11

Yes, yeah, isn't that crazy? Um, so it was really sad because it was basically like I have it in my notes. Imagine trying to make Tula go back into the wild as a wolf.

SPEAKER_01 8:22

She wouldn't last five minutes.

SPEAKER_02 8:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:26

Oh no, that's so sad. I know, it's really sad.

SPEAKER_02 8:29

Um, he also like couldn't swim long distances. They tried to train him to become more whale-like, but it was kind of mean because he was so used, he was they could said he was a um a golden retriever. So it was kind of like go on, get, you know.

SPEAKER_01 8:43

Yeah, and go on, boy, we don't want you anymore.

SPEAKER_02 8:47

Yeah, yeah. And so they was really sad. He like totally rejected that. His way to unwind after training sessions. He loved watching um the Andy Griffith show and Independence Day.

SPEAKER_01 9:00

Independence Day? Yeah, same thing.

SPEAKER_02 9:03

I haven't seen that movie in a really long time.

SPEAKER_01 9:05

I watch it every year.

SPEAKER_02 9:06

Do you? Yes. There's a big hole that opens up over the White House, right?

SPEAKER_01 9:11

Um, I mean it's an alien spaceship. A hole from an alien spaceship. Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

It's just like a big hole. Um, yes, famously the White House gets blown up in Independence Day, along with other other notable landmarks, you might say. The Capitol building, um, the Empire State building, and then why do they build dirty? I don't know. Because they're aliens and they want to consume everything, every living being. That's my Bill Pullman. Yeah, well, it's supposed to be Bill Pullman.

SPEAKER_02 9:44

Uh may he rest. I loved him.

SPEAKER_01 9:46

No, that's Pax. Oh.

SPEAKER_02 9:49

Who's Bill Pullman?

SPEAKER_01 9:50

Bill Pullman is hold on.

SPEAKER_02 9:52

Oh my god, I think I just had this conversation with somebody. Was he in a Ghostbuster?

SPEAKER_01 9:56

He was in While You Were Sleeping, which is a great rom-com. What's in Chicago? He's this guy.

SPEAKER_02 10:00

Okay. What's another thing he was in? Because I think I just saw him in something.

SPEAKER_01 10:03

Um he was in Captain. Oh, he's in Casper! I just watched Casper. Uh while you were sleeping, he's in sleepless in Seattle. Oh. Um, he is. He's her germophobe C Pap husband. CPAP beta bitch. He's pretty excuse me. Um, he was really active in the 90s, I would say. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:23

Okay. Okay, so then they got him, then they were finally like, let's get him into the next step, the ocean. So they took him to this like I don't even know. It's like kind of like a cul-de-sac in the ocean. Yeah, yeah. In Iceland. And he was like hanging out there, and they tried to introduce him to whales, and it went terribly. He got very scared and he like got bullied.

SPEAKER_01 10:40

Oh, he got bullied? It's awful. Did they like make fun of him?

SPEAKER_02 10:44

Probably. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:45

They're like, Is that an whale noise?

SPEAKER_02 10:49

Yeah. I used to listen. I used to have a CD of whale noises that I would listen to on my boom box at night. I know. Disgusting.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

That's no, I mean, I have a lot of follow-up questions about that for another time.

SPEAKER_02 11:00

But it was we used to put the boom box on the floor in my sister's room, and we would run around in socks and we'd play the whale songs, and then we'd play Lion King, and Jesse and I were dancing, and we got so um spinning so fast, I fell on the bed and she threw up in my ear. I know. Yeah. So how did you clean it out? I don't know. I think I blacked. I like just remember all I remember is being on the bed and then being like, somebody's gotta get a gun.

SPEAKER_01 11:32

But just like not enough like Clorox wipes in the world for that. It was awful.

SPEAKER_02 11:37

That's I can't imagine a tighter hole to throw.

SPEAKER_01 11:41

I know it was awful. Um like our little tangents where the stomach is taking. Those are the I think that those are the whole men vomiting in your ear.

SPEAKER_02 11:49

Throwing up in an ear. I feel like those are the best parts. Yeah. Um, but yeah, I'm actually not gonna finish the story because it's really sad. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 11:57

Um, but we'll just pretend he like met a girl whale and they started a whale family and floated off, swam off, not floated.

SPEAKER_02 12:06

He was um raptured.

SPEAKER_01 12:08

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:09

Okay, let's go with that.

SPEAKER_02 12:10

Uh, but he died at 27.

SPEAKER_01 12:12

Okay. Is that old for a whale?

SPEAKER_02 12:14

I don't know. You don't know. I didn't. You didn't, you forgot. You didn't do that in that research. But um, just some quick questions for you.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

First of all, do you have any feelings about that story? Um, yeah, deep sadness. Um, I'm an animal person and um like I I'm the kind of person that like if I watch a movie and there are like people dying in a scene, I'm like, oh, that's so sad, and I cry. If a dog or like even a horse or a dragon, a yeah, I yeah, I like get like I I will be like skip it, skip it. Same.

SPEAKER_02 12:47

Yeah, if you are interested, uh the New York Times did a podcast. It's called The Goodwill. Oh, and it's so Oh, I've heard of that. It's so devastating, but it's so beautiful. I told my mom to listen to it and she was like, I don't want to do it anymore.

SPEAKER_01 13:01

Yeah, that's maybe in a happier time in the world. We have so few things now. Yeah, I'm like, just give me the delightful things. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 13:11

Yeah, I felt like I learned about him and then he was ripped from me. Um I'm sorry for your loss.

SPEAKER_01 13:19

Thank you. What's your favorite kind of whale? That's a good question. Um, probably beluga.

SPEAKER_02 13:30

Oh you like a little spongy head.

SPEAKER_01 13:33

I like a I like a good noggin. And they're super smart. And um, there's some at the shed aquarium, which like I have mixed feelings about. Same. Um yeah, I like I I'm I've been known to like pop an edible and watch whale documentaries. Like Nat Geo. I love that. Like there's one where it's like the secret lives of whales, and I'm like, tell me all their secrets.

SPEAKER_02 13:58

I I think I watched that when I had COVID, and that's when I learned that orcas I think will if you flip a stingray upside down, it stuns it.

SPEAKER_01 14:06

Yes, they learn that. There's also another type of whale where they learn that if they like surround, like work as a group and like surround a group of fish that they can like essentially bring them all to the surface and then just like have a feast.

SPEAKER_02 14:19

That sounds like something an orca would do.

SPEAKER_01 14:20

Yeah, I don't know, I forget which one it was, but um, pretty cool. There's they're smart and we don't know a lot about them.

SPEAKER_02 14:27

I know they're very smart. Um quick side tangent. The next time you do take an edible and watch something, you should watch the shark whisperer.

SPEAKER_01 14:35

Oh, okay. Sharks kind of scare me.

SPEAKER_02 14:37

Me too.

SPEAKER_01 14:37

Okay, but it was more.

SPEAKER_02 14:39

It's really good. Yeah. It's um this woman who lives in Hawaii, I think. She thinks she has she does have a very special relationship with the sharks. She goes down and free swims with them. She'll train herself to like hold her breath.

SPEAKER_01 14:53

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 14:53

There's pictures of her with just her hand on a great white shark that's probably like, I don't know, weights, but probably 4,000 pounds.

SPEAKER_01 15:00

Pass.

SPEAKER_02 15:01

You should watch it.

SPEAKER_01 15:02

So my thing with that is like that guy who was like, I befriended a bear and then got mauled by the bear, or was it a tiger?

SPEAKER_02 15:08

It's very that. It's the bear, and they mentioned that to her in the documentary.

SPEAKER_01 15:12

Yeah, because like I just think there's certain species that like let's respect their independence, their boundaries. They're in the ocean for a reason, you know? Let's leave them there. I am kind of afraid of the ocean.

SPEAKER_02 15:25

I am too. When did you get scared of the ocean?

SPEAKER_01 15:28

Um, when my mom got stung by a stingray and orange or stingray, God, can you imagine? Uh, when my mom got stung by a jellyfish at Orange Beach, Alabama.

SPEAKER_02 15:37

How did that go down?

SPEAKER_01 15:38

Um, she was probably pretty cool about it. No, she was not cool about it. She's probably gonna listen to this when she finds out about it. So she's gonna be so mad at me. Um, no, I remember her like crying out in pain on the beach and like seeing like a red mark on her leg. And then I think it was like my dad or my uncle or somebody being like, go get so-and-so, and I just like ran back to the condo, and that's my last memory of it. Oh my gosh. Um, yeah, I I love being in the ocean if I turn my brain off. Like, I find it very soothing to walk in the ocean to just like float, but I not for long because the second I'm like, what's under here? Um, what's gonna sneak up on me? Because like, even the things that are cute are like lethal. Like seals are mean. Are they? They well, they certainly bite people. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, um, maybe I didn't know they had teeth. Oh, yeah, they eat little penguins. There's some nature documents. Oh my god. Okay, I'll look them up later.

SPEAKER_02 16:40

That is I struggle being in the ocean because like I feel like there is a lack of transparency around which fish have teeth and which don't.

SPEAKER_01 16:48

I agreed. Right. Um, and like what am I supposed to do? Like, ask them or like open their little like yeah, like you're trying to pill a dog. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 16:58

I don't like the ocean. Um, I mean, I like I I admire it from afar. I love watching documentaries.

SPEAKER_01 17:03

I love learning about it. But I feel to me, it's like I feel like there's there's so much of it that's undiscovered. There I feel like there was some internet thing. I don't know. This is not factual, this is an internet thing.

SPEAKER_02 17:14

Nothing on this podcast is.

SPEAKER_01 17:15

Great. Um excellent. So there's a there's a theory that like aliens are actually in the ocean. Oh yeah. And I'm like, that would make sense because like there's some weird shit down there. There was like an oil rig. Have you heard the story? No. So there are like super divers who like go super deep into the ocean. I'm not explaining this very scientifically. Like, there are people who can explain it better. Um, but they have to go, they have to go like really deep in the ocean and pressurized when they they're so deep that they spend like weeks in these tanks to like readjust. Oh, and also apparently like helium is involved, so they like talk in high voices the whole time.

SPEAKER_02 17:55

That would be so embarrassing. Because they're there for work.

SPEAKER_01 17:58

What if you're like, I have a headache?

unknown 17:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:01

Um I'm about to quit. I'm not taking it anymore. Um, but there's so much physical pressure beneath, as we all learned with the ocean gate. Boy, did we um that I just like I think it's best. Like, I respect the sea. I forget what that's from. That's from something.

SPEAKER_02 18:21

I'm in a hundred percent agreement. I don't even like going to the beach, to be honest.

SPEAKER_01 18:25

I like going to the beach, but like being at the pool by the beach. I like being at the pool. I don't like sand. Anakin. What did you say? It's like it's coarse and irritating, or whatever.

SPEAKER_00 18:38

I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating, and it gets everywhere.

SPEAKER_02 18:46

I could do uh an episode about the the prequels. Oh shit have me have me back. Please you won't take an edible and watch those any day. We'll never get on a boat again. I'm done, I've seen it all. My sister and I went snorkeling in Key West, and it was like the worst. I it was the worst day of my life. It was so bad, it was so choppy. They were like, Okay, you like put these little vests on, life vests, and they're like, go out and see things. And then they're like, if you need us like to flag us down, like hear the hand signals. I was so sick on the boat, so sick, and Jesse was like, You'll be fine once you get into the water. You can't get seasick in the water. And I was like, Great, that makes sense. I get in the water. I didn't know you could throw up in the water. I was like throwing up while swimming. It was the craziest thing.

SPEAKER_01 19:28

So you're like in your It was awful. In your bar.

SPEAKER_02 19:31

I didn't think I'd be able to make it back to the boat, so I'm like making eye contact with the captain, like blowing up my little thing. I get back to the boat. I had only been in the water for like three minutes, so I didn't see anything. I get onto the boat, I'm so sick, I just lay there, face down, ass up. My bathing suit is askew because I've been pulled onto the boat, just frying families, everybody's getting back on after like an hour. Yeah, it was awful. I was so sick. And then I was like, oh my god, start the boat. We have to get out of here. Yeah. And the guy was just like flipping through this laminated booklet, being like, Did anybody see like a blue guild, whatever? And then it's just me over the edge. Throwing up all over the boat. It was terrible. I'll never get on a boat again.

SPEAKER_01 20:17

Yeah, Sean had a similar experience. Um, Sean is my husband, for those listening, where we went snorkel, we did like a kayak snorkel thing on our honeymoon, and I was having like a lovely time. It was like, I I get I do get a little motion sickness, but I was fine. I was definitely a little woozy. But I got in the water and I was like looking at a sea turtle in the eyes, and I was like, oh my god, this is like spiritual. This is so beautiful. And I like come up, and Sean is just like thrashing in the water because he like can't get the mask right, and he was like choking on the water, and then he got seasick, and like he had to like in a very like sly way be like, Hey sir, can I get one of those sprites you were talking about?

SPEAKER_02 21:02

I think I started getting scared of the ocean. I remember in fourth grade, someone showed me a picture of the bottom of an iceberg. Oh, yeah. Yeah, so that really scared me. Um, would you rather be caught swimming alone with an orca or a great white shark?

SPEAKER_01 21:20

I guess an orca. Me too. But like barely. Because those things, I mean, they're gone. We've all seen blackfish. Yeah, well, I mean, good for them for going after yachts, but um I don't think I'm in the right tax bracket for them to attack me. Well, that's my thing. I'm like, can you smell the peasantry? Um, can you smell the the elf beauty product with my dove shampoo? Um, yeah, I I guess, I guess orcas. Because I feel like I could reason with them. I could be like, I respect you, I'm terrified of you. I don't know, but if they smell their fear, are they gonna eat me or are they gonna respect me?

SPEAKER_02 21:56

No, I think that you can reason with them. I remember it was on one of those Wheel documentaries that I was watching. They brought the diver, they're like, Well, come on, do you want some of this sting right? And he was kind of like, Okay, I guess I'll have some.

SPEAKER_01 22:09

Yeah, I feel like they have like they're definitely vicious. Right. But I think that on the whole, they would probably have a more like naturally gentle disposition.

SPEAKER_02 22:22

If you were more curious.

SPEAKER_01 22:23

Yeah. But also I'm guessing they've probably seen lots of humans.

SPEAKER_02 22:26

Yeah, and I I know that this is like the most common phrase in my in this community, but there are no documented incidences of an orca harming a human in the wild.

SPEAKER_01 22:38

Oh, really? Okay. Just their boats, just their super yachts.

SPEAKER_02 22:42

Just their yachts.

SPEAKER_01 22:42

Okay. Well, good. I mean, good for them. They're on the right side of history.

SPEAKER_02 22:47

My friend Allie is really into we have she's into sharks more so than I am. Um, and so she thinks that she'd rather swim with a great white shark.

SPEAKER_01 22:54

Yeah, I don't think so. I feel like even if they didn't want to eat me, they would. Also, I don't know if this was a big thing for you, but I was very into shark week as a kid. I so I like I've seen enough shark attack stories, but not very many orca stories.

SPEAKER_02 23:06

It's fun watching the things that scare us. Like, I think if I like even like I bet I would get a real thrill out of looking at the bottom of an iceberg. Do you have a favorite shark?

SPEAKER_01 23:18

Hmm. I think hammerhead. Because I just how the hell did that happen? Like you gotta have a good personality. But like evol like evolution-wise, I'm like, how the fuck did that happen? It is weird. And its eyes are just like here and here.

SPEAKER_02 23:34

Maybe that's why it happened.

SPEAKER_01 23:36

Possibly.

SPEAKER_02 23:37

Um But do you have a favorite shark? No. Okay. No, I hate them all. No, um, I would I have a least favorite shark. Okay. A bull shark.

SPEAKER_01 23:45

Oh, same, because they're like the the like the garbage disposals or something. They call them like the garbage cans of the ocean because they eat everything. Humans. Humans that also they find like metal parts and like tires in them.

SPEAKER_02 23:58

Oh yeah. Well that's why I don't like shrimp. I think shrimps are the bugs of the sea because they they eat garbage.

SPEAKER_01 24:03

Jellyfish in particular, because going back to the traumatic incident as a child. I a jellyfish so much as fucking comes in my anywhere close to me, that'll be the fastest I ever move.

SPEAKER_02 24:19

They come out of nowhere, too.

SPEAKER_01 24:21

Yeah. Well, and they're clear. Yeah. Like, and some of them will kill you immediately. Yeah, the boxed jellyfish, and uh one thing you will never find me doing is going in Australia.

unknown 24:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:31

The boxed jellyfish are scary. I don't know if I got stung by a jellyfish or if I just had like a an allergic reaction to a hot dub, but on one spring break.

SPEAKER_01 24:39

Wait, I think I know what you're gonna say, but go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 24:42

Does it happen to you too? We'll finish. Oh, well, my feet um got really big. Like they swelled and they were hot. That is not what I was gonna When we drove home, we had to stop at a gas station and get a thing of ice, and I just put my feet on it, and then we had to go to the emergency room. Did they diagnose you? They said it was some kind of allergic reaction.

SPEAKER_01 25:03

Weird.

SPEAKER_02 25:03

I know, but it's happened twice now. So I get I don't go barefoot a lot, but it was I thought I had been stung in the ocean, but I also then another on another spring break got in a hot tub and it happened.

SPEAKER_01 25:14

Oh I think it's like a chemical thing.

SPEAKER_02 25:16

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 25:17

You know? Yeah, there's a chemical they use in the cleaning stuff that mimics the jellyfish's t lick sting. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:25

Makes them Um, what were you gonna say? What happened to your feet?

SPEAKER_01 25:28

Um, nothing to my feet I would get in the ocean. I just always remember feeling this like prickling sensation on like my chest. And I I when I was younger, I was like, did a baby jellyfish sting me? Because there's no like sting.

SPEAKER_02 25:39

Am I am I nursing baby jellyfishes?

SPEAKER_01 25:43

Mama.

SPEAKER_02 25:44

I know. I wonder if that's the salt in the dry, dry skin.

SPEAKER_01 25:47

I mean, look, I would say physically, biologically speaking, I am meant for a cloudy climate um with sheep. Like I'm supposed to be where sheep and clouds are.

SPEAKER_02 26:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 26:01

You know, like just it looks like I have I've never been outside. So and I don't need to. I'm an indoor kid through and through. I just um and I think that's part of my like aversion to the beach. Now, I do love a beach vacation, but again, by the pool under an umbrella. I with SPF 100. Right.

SPEAKER_02 26:20

And so, but at that point, it's kind of like do you just like being hot?

SPEAKER_01 26:25

No, I think I just like the sound of the ocean.

SPEAKER_02 26:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 26:30

I like looking at it. Yeah. I would like standing on a cliff. I like I like the pool. Like, I like I love water. So I think that's part of it. I and oh and I just love a strawberry daiquiri by a pool. I mean, again, I'm I'm a simple woman.

SPEAKER_02 26:47

Do you get a frozen strawberry daiquiri? Yes. Okay. What am I gonna not get a frozen? Well, I didn't know because my friend Allie, who likes the great white sharks, we were out to dinner one night and she was like, Can I have a daiquiri? And we're all like, you loser. With respect, because I thought it was like she was like ordering like a frozen daiquiri. I was like, they're gonna give it in like a styrofoam cup, but a daiquiri is actually a really nice cocktail.

SPEAKER_01 27:09

It's served up. I've never I've never tried. I think you should dabble. Okay, I'll dabble.

SPEAKER_02 27:18

Anything else you wanted to add about the ocean before we get or to or to whales or to Keiko the whale?

SPEAKER_01 27:22

Um, I would just say in general, about the ocean and animals in the ocean, I respect you. Um, I personally mean no harm. If you if you see me in there, don't bite me. Um, jellyfish, stay the fuck away from me. Okay. But in general, like I respect you and I think you have a beautiful environment, and please don't hurt me. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 27:43

We'll play this for them. Okay, thank you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:45

Yeah. Just stick it, like, stick a speaker in the ocean. In the bottom of the ocean. And then they'll tell each other. They'll be like, there's this girl Meredith in Chicago. She hasn't been to a beach in six years.

SPEAKER_02 27:54

But um, I don't this is unrelated. Did you did you know my dad was in a horrible shipwreck? Sorry. In the ocean. He's fine.

SPEAKER_01 28:08

Um, but yeah, I mean, I hope I hope so.

SPEAKER_02 28:11

Yeah, I it's a story that I want to get him to tell at some point. Yeah. Because he like, I was like, I shouldn't be getting in the ocean. It's like not in my genetics to be good at that. Well, sure. But yeah, he was in a bad boat wreck.

SPEAKER_01 28:22

Um, enter or what is it, generational trauma? I'm carrying it. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I I don't want to spoil the story for future things, but was it like what kind of ship was it? Was it like a cruise or was he like a fish?

SPEAKER_02 28:36

Crashed into the Golden Gate Bridge. Uh he was doing a fishing trip with some of his friends. Yeah. Shoppy C's.

SPEAKER_01 28:43

Oh my god. Yeah. Life jacket.

SPEAKER_02 28:45

Um, I don't know. I think my uncle Bill helped pull him out. Um, but yeah, I I want him to tell the story at some point because I remember hearing that as a kid and then being like, Did I make that up? And no. And then I texted him the other day. I was like, Did you did you crash into the Golden Gate Bridge? And he's like, Yeah, I did. Thanks for listening to My Whole Personality. This podcast is edited and produced by me, Joanna Clark. Theme music by Rebecca Jaffe. If you like this podcast, please like, subscribe, rate it, review it, wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks for listening. Bye bye.