Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone

Do you start your day? Deciding which video game

you're gonna play? You fight with your family.

Go for which is better, Marvel or DC? The geek

of all your friends, cause you know what Batman

beats Superman. This is the right place to be,

so turn up the volume cause you're not turkey.

Hello and welcome to Altered Geek. I'm your host,

Steve Megatron Phillips. I am recording this

on my drive home. I'm holding my phone, but I'm

not actually looking at it. I'm watching the

road So I want to preface this with saying If

you ever get the opportunity to try something

new I think it's a good idea So what I mean by

this is I was invited and I know I've mentioned

this in previous episodes That I was being invited

to the Michigan Science Center The beautiful

part about this this whole thing was is I was

able to Get out of my comfort zone. I was able

to try something new I apologize for the sound

again. It's I'm not in my my studio And if I

got my microphone out that I use at my studio,

unfortunately the bumps would still be loud if

I was in my SUV it probably be a different story,

but Yeah, I'm in my clunky Korean car So I had

an opportunity to host the event. I was able

to meet up with the Starfleet International Commander,

Fleet Admiral Dan Tool, the commander of Starfleet.

And I was able to meet with Commodore within

the Sinclair, the Region 13 meeting chapter.

Which it's I guess it's not often that were at

all that they get to from region 13 that end

up at the same event I didn't have anything specifically

to promote for region 13 But or the future imperfect

because again You know correspondence chapter.

So technically it's not allowed but even then

like There was a gentleman there that did sign

up on the spot to Starfleet and joined the Sinclair,

which was cool to see. I got to meet a number

of Trek fans. I had a conversation with a lady

that had been in her late 60s, early 70s, and

her daughters were there, and they were all drinking.

It was hilarious. Because the old lady, surprisingly

enough, just because people were trying to be

funny, and they were like, oh. I know all this

trivia. There were people that were just mind

-numbingly good at it. Better than me, even.

I remember things, but these people remembered

specific things, like actors, name of the episodes,

key elements. Although it was awesome when we

went through the trivia because a lot of people

were just having just... Insane difficulty the

the lowest scores were like 19 or something the

highest was 33 now mind you there was a possibility

to get Well over like 110 points or Yeah, it

was about 110 points because 80 was the last

round and then you get bonus questions You could

earn points from but if you lost Or you missed

a question on any part of the the way You lost

points instead of gain points. So like it was

it was kind of fun to watch but yeah, we It was

an interesting Thing that I was able to experience

because I took myself out of my comfort zone

and Don't get me wrong The thought of it terrified

me the thought of it, but I realized I haven't

done any public speaking. I haven't done anything

in a live venue. Ever. Like, I've never done

with that many people. But even then, it wasn't

that many people. I had maybe, I don't know,

40, 50 people standing around watching me run

this thing staring at me. A lot of them had blank

stares. A lot of people were just kind of like,

eh, and then just doing the Q &A for the trivia.

A lot of people were drinking. A lot of people

just weren't paying attention. I... Tried to

liven them up as much as I could I throw a joke

in There was one point where they had the you

had to match It see I excel when I get to be

sarcastic and humorous. That's when I I can kind

of pick things up and go But when I'm when I'm

just saying things I don't do well, so I was

acting like We Like I was sitting in my basement

recording and it's and that's what some of the

podcasters on the podcaster groups It's kind

of said, you know, just think of yourself in

your office. Think of yourself. Just you know

not you know, like like you're at home like you're

talking to your other podcasters and They said

and honestly, they said the ands and the ums

and the any of the missteps that you have Nobody's

gonna care when you're in public and they're

right. I experienced that firsthand and have

to say honestly that I did it. I did something

that was out of my comfort zone. When I was a

child and I was a teenager, I could, I tried

everything under the sun to get out of speaking

in public. I hated it. It was the biggest fear

to me in my life to have people staring at me.

And don't get me wrong, it still is. Like I turned

red to begin with when I first started talking

because I had no idea how I was going to start

the conversation. I scripted something out and

it totally went a different direction. And then

certain aspects I didn't really know what to

expect. And so it kind of threw me because I'm

used to running the show and they're like, here's

this. This is what you're doing. This is what

we want you to do. And yeah, have fun. And at

one point it was, and the podcaster group had

said, you know, things will go wrong. And they

were right. However, it wasn't with my own equipment.

That was the great part. I got there fairly early.

Not like super early, but I was there probably

about 45 minutes early before the event started.

So I was kind of hanging out with staff and hanging

out with... the Sinclair people, I was talking

with the coordinator who invited me, and it was

a great experience. I was able to just be normal

me, like nothing, like I was not encumbered by

this meek, introspective, shy individual. I was...

very like extra respective I was able to put

myself out there and just have fun with it and

I think that that was the great part about it

was I I realized that my block of talking in

front of people has nothing to do with my ability

it has to do with the fact that I always Think

I can't do it or I always Overthink it overanalyze

it in honestly like in the past I've like it

tears it tears me up inside like my my gut my

My head like everything in me gets stressed out

when I have to do an event Or have to do something

that's out of my comfort zone this event nothing

no feeling like I just didn't care like I think

it's because too I had a great day at work and

I had a great day with the kids this morning

and I think that a lot of things come into play

with mental health and I think I'm starting to

get over this hurdle which is awesome because

I I think that There comes a point where you

have to like try different things and otherwise

if you're just going to going through the motions

nothing matters and I've been going through the

motions on everything in life for a while now

And I think that by starting this step to break

out of it, I think that it makes a difference.

And I think that it's good for people, like in

general. I don't know what you guys think about

it. Like I think it's good to step out of your

comfort zone and try something that you thought

you hated a long time ago. I mean, for me, one

thing that I still hate is like certain kinds

of food. So it's still, that's a struggle. My

wife kind of enforces that I eat healthy because

it's, yeah, I don't need to be eating junk. but

no it was it was a lot of fun I I didn't know

I was able to do that I threw kind of going back

to the the whole joke thing that I was talking

about and I started to say you know matching

the captains with the ships I there was you know

it would say who's the captain of the USS Voyager

in mind I should have put my glasses on like

I couldn't read the the NCC number but I said,

who is the captain of that? Then I go to the

Enterprise 1701 and I thought I'd be funny with

it. Calling up my favorite joke of relics where

Scotty goes to the holodeck and he says, show

me the bridge of my sheep. And then the computer

says, you gotta be more specific and he says,

show me the bridge of the Enterprise. and the

computer says there have been four ships with

that designation or five ships with that designation

and he goes NCC 1701 no bloody A B C or D and

so I did that joke in front of everybody and

I think I got a pretty good roar of laughter

Out of the crowd and I was like I was and that

was like the beginning of the second round So

I was like, okay, I got this now The first round

was a little rough because it was like who's

a good guy? Who's a bad guy? And so like if you

want to hear the whole, you know at least round

two through four that I recorded on Future imperfect

go over and listen to that episode. I'll link

it in the description for more details on the

event. Some things went awry, but it worked out

overall. No, but the problem, like, when I was

talking to the podcasters in the podcast group,

like, look, I've never done a live event, I don't

know what to do. You know, how do you handle

it? And they kind of gave me all kinds of hints,

you know, just kind of pretend that, you know,

you're still at home and all that other stuff.

And then they said, one of them was real blunt

and like, take a list of your stuff, take your

stuff with you. Check your stuff. Double check

your stuff. Listen back to your stuff. Double

check it, you know? And then after that, they're

like, uh... You... You will have something go

wrong. Doesn't matter. Like, something will go

wrong. And sure enough, something went wrong.

I forgot to record round one on my computer that

I had. And... Round... Two somewhere in there

and it probably gets quieter in the future and

perfect thing I was on a microphone like I was

on a headset and this was like the most awkward

headset in the world like it clips over your

ears both ears and I It would have been better

if I just had the one that was just over one

ear, but I don't know anyways It was interesting

because I was talking and the batteries went

dead on me in the middle of speaking so Had to

shout and then that's when fleet Admiral Dan

tool from Starfleet International came up and

started yelling stuff with me, too And so we

were having fun with it kind of screwing with

it and you know Just having a good time. I did

get a couple of thank -yous at the end of the

event which kind of surprised me Saying that

I did a good job. Thank you for doing that and

I tried to keep people informed it would took

a little while to to give their answers for the

trivia. And the staff was spectacular. They had

some people volunteering from Quicken Loans to

kind of fill out the ranks at the museum for

the After Dark event. And some were knowledgeable

on track, some not. But it was great conversations

and great fun all the way around. And I think

that had I had this experience with like Grand

Con years ago, I think I would have kept going.

But I think that part of the problem I had with

Grand Con years ago was not only was I not ready,

I don't think I'd evolved enough as a human.

or because also I wasn't going to school at that

time and I think I had to break out of my comfort

zone whether I liked it or not. Between acting

class and between English and everything else

that I had to kind of publicly speak it kind

of broke me and so I was able to get past that

point. So yeah I definitely I definitely think

that people Should try things new or try things

that terrified them as a kid and really revisit

things I think that it can make a difference

in growing your character growing you as a person

And I think it's a lot of fun like it's it's

something that If I was invited to another convention

to speak or to Host a panel or something. I think

that I would do really well at it this time And

honestly like it was It was just, I'm surprised.

I'm really surprised. That probably means that

I'll end up being asked to speak elsewhere, whether

it be my church or other group kind of gatherings,

events locally. But yeah, it's totally different.

As an adult, I think that I had a great time

with my kids in the morning running around, playing

outside, chasing each other, pretending that

we're collecting animals that were actually sticks

and putting them in corrals that the kids had

drawn with sidewalk chalk in our back porch area.

And then, of course, we had... You know work

I had to enter in like three things of inventory

and I figured out a faster way than punching

in individual UPC codes I rather than do that

they stack everything on a shelf and wait for

me so I went over and I manually like I just

I got a UPC scanner hooked it up the computer

system and I started scanning items because it

turned out about 50 % of the items that they

had from their invoice were brand new to the

system and so they had to be manually entered

and so it saved me a lot of time typing in UPC

codes because everything else is much faster.

So I did that and then I drove to the event and

honestly it's been a great day. I missed my family

getting to see them in the evening but I got

to discover something new about myself too. Yeah,

as far as geeky stuff's concerned, that Captain

Marvel trailer, man, that was better than I thought

it was gonna be. I thought for sure I wouldn't

care. There have been a couple of gripers or

feminist gripers online about... Well, Captain

Marvel only had 33 words, and Sam Jackson, as

Nick Fury, only got, you know, 45. And it's like,

well... Yeah, but Nick Fury's also like he's

our he's our man of the hour like kind of the

the architect of the entire Avengers initiative

and he's kind of the glue between all of them

and in connecting all the films and Kind of integral

to the story so, you know this kind of helps

the little drawbacks of Him losing his eye and,

you know, getting Phil Coulson back in there,

which I'm in favor of. I think that people are

just over -exaggerating it because you get to

see the power of Captain Marvel in the trailer.

Whether she gets more words or not, like, who

cares? Because when it boils down to the movie,

Nick Fury is going to be a footnote compared

to Captain Marvel, which is going to have a variety

of scenes in different locations. whether it

be in space or in when she had her life on Earth.

Fury is probably going to be there like sporadically,

but not the story is Captain Marvel. So like

people are making a mountain out of a molehill

on that ship. And I think that we're I think

that we're getting a good movie in that and that

it's going to help build the universe and kind

of bridging that gap between Captain America

and Iron Man and I think that we're gonna also

get more of why Tony Stark is so important and

why Captain Marvel are so important because Tony

is for all intents and purposes the one that

they've been trying to preserve through the entire

timeline and Tony even in Age of Ultron saw all

of the other avengers like dead and he's just

standing there alone which is kind of in essence

what happens in infinity war so it's not much

different so we'll get to see kind of what happens

as this whole thing evolves along the way So

what has been what has been geeky to you guys?

I know some people are watching the DC universe

stuff or really into that really interested I

myself have no interest in the DC universe. I

actually have no interest in picking up any new

shows I really don't I'm dropping some current

shows I'm gonna check out lethal weapon on season

3 To see if I really care or still care I'm also

going to Drop Supernatural I'm gonna pick back

up last man standing because honestly like it's

not That big of a deal like it's still a continuation

of a series. I was watching so I don't feel like

I'm picking up a new show It's not like I'm getting

reinvested in something. It's something I was

previously invested with I'm gonna watch the

Orville. I'm gonna watch discovery I'm gonna

watch the Picard show which is kind of a new

show But not really like I still consider it

a continuation of TNG the Star Trek shorts May

or may not watch them. It just depends on if

I really care The Khan series I see that as a

continuation. I'll watch that the animated thing

Probably probably not just kind of depends on

what era they cover the Starfleet Academy. I'm

not gonna pay attention Unless they have like

some reprisals from Past cast members Otherwise,

I really don't want to get involved with it And

then there's a there's a number of other shows

like there's superhero shows. I'm not picking

up black lightning again I'm probably gonna drop

Supergirl I May drop arrow it just depends on

where they go with it But I'm still gonna watch

flash and legends of tomorrow Really don't know

of any other shows. I'm watching at the moment

that I'll still care about. I watch Mysteries

of the Museum. I watch Shark Tank. Shark Tank

is kind of sporadic. It's kind of not really

something I pay too much attention to. My wife

and I have just recently started watching Trading

Spaces, even though the season that just aired

for the revival, we're still finishing the season.

We've got three or four episodes left to watch.

But I've been we've been enjoying that just because

we're remodeling our living room space and trying

to get ideas Even though it's not really applying

anything we're doing but it's still interesting

to see the creative juices of it And I enjoy

it We used to watch it When it was on previously

so I Wonder what else like you guys are doing.

I really want to hear from you guys and hear

what is resonating as far as your geek -doms

or just what you're interested in. Whether it's

TV, pop culture, tech. I know that tech right

now, between that whole thing with the music

debacle going on and then a number of organizations

like BuzzFeed and some others like that. are

actually dropping their entire podcast departments,

which is a bit insane to me because it's like

they're expecting instant gratification, but

it doesn't happen overnight. There are guys that

have been doing it for 13 years and are doing

infinitely better than I am. And mine is I blame

it on myself. There's a lot of Lot of me that's

the problem on my stuff and I think that I think

that is the geek cast radio network evolves I

think that we really need to Revamp and evolve

our programs as well because we've been kind

of formulaic. I mean, it's not I'm not knocking

any of the shows but The only one that's kind

of broke out of the mold and recently is Dan

and that's with his That's with his video show

and honestly like he's getting probably more

traction than some of the podcasts are and that's

I'm not knocking anybody on it, but it's just

it's it's a reality like video does grab people

more than audio But the new site will make it

so that when you click on those and you want

to read whatever's below it or see the comments

The video will follow you on the page How I've

got it set up so I'm rather proud and excited

for that feature to take a play in the new site

Which I'm still working on we've discovered several

bugs that were a problem After I thought I only

had a few things left to do there's other things

that have to be double -checked and triple -checked

I still get to import all the material That's

left I got to tweak some things I'm still debating

whether there's going to be a sign up, like a

user sign up feature. I've gotten a lot of spam

bots, so I got to figure out how to counter that.

And also as far as like possibly doing memberships,

I know that that was a goal, but I don't know

if that will actually come to fruition. I know

many other features that I wanted are coming

to fruition, so there is that. And then there's

a number of podcast organizations that are just,

you know, or businesses that... are just not

doing all that hot. I used to work in radio and

I used to work for an organization and so I know

that they've not been doing well. Not that I

wish them ill will because I enjoyed my time

there and I did enjoy working for that company.

I saw a lot of room for improvement that was

being neglected. but that's neither here nor

there. I'm not there anymore. All I can do is

focus on the present. I've been just kind of

wondering what's going through some of these

businesses' minds as far as their podcasts. I've

been watching the groups on LinkedIn and on Facebook,

and they're just like, what do they think? It's

just going to happen by itself? You have to actively

try this. They're like, no. You know BuzzFeed's

like, I'm gonna dump all of our showers into

our video programs and we're not going to do

podcasts anymore. I don't know what that accent

was. I just, it kind of rolled. But yeah, so...

Yeah, I just don't understand some of these companies.

I'm trying to get a job in podcasting. I'm trying

to get a job in like radio again or television.

Like, I really want to work in those, you know,

those three categories there. I just it's it's

been tough But yeah, it's it's been it's been

an experience this week and next week We we're

closing in on episode 300 Tuesday will have episode

299 and 300 will be next Friday I'm kind of excited

to see see where we go Will state this and I

mentioned this on a post on on Facebook. There

will be a hiatus after episode 300 I do not want

to do 301 until I've got something figured out

and I'm gonna go weekly again with the show.

I don't know how you guys feel about it Let me

know in the comments or in on Facebook or Twitter

or email feedback at altergeek .com Just let

me know what you guys think on that about going

back to one a week and doing like a longer variety

show Like we used to do Or we're just covering

you know lightly covering some of the topics

and then or some of the news and having a major

topic and I definitely want to incorporate feedback

again in every episode. I feel like that was

a lot of fun for me. I enjoyed answering questions

on every episode rather than having to pool them

together and put one feedback episode. And sometimes

those feedbacks spawned whole topics. So it was

a lot of fun to have those included and I really

hope to... kind of re -evolve the podcast, re

-design it, re -do it. It's going to be kind

of structured, but not really. I feel like sometimes

I want to over -simplify things or over -complicate

them, and there's really just no need for it.

So, I think that's about it for this episode.

Just I think that that that kind of runs things

out and I've got a number of topics I want to

cover on the next episode So we'll just kind

of see how it goes and then maybe some of it

will get brought up in episode 300 episode 300

we are going to have Mike booth ninja powers

returning for the 300th episode which Theoretically

had I kind of kept with a schedule of doing twice

a week or three times a week Like I was doing

for a little bit. We should have hit that at

our six -year mark of the podcast or the name

and five years of the podcast in August, but

I'm only a month late. Not a big deal. So, yep,

he'll be joining us for episode 300. I have no

idea what's going to happen in episode 300. If

you guys want to send in emails or voicemails

or any kind of feedback or topic suggestions

knowing that he's going to be in it, Send them

to feedback at altered geek calm And it just

kind of let me know I I really would like as

much feedback as possible in that episode of

what you guys want for this show and for Just

discussion points and the fact that we're hitting

300 episodes like this is my first podcast to

hit 300 episodes let alone 200 altered Altered

geek is yeah future imperfect state like episode

60 and all things transformers is at like 162

or 164 or something somewhere in that neighborhood.

So it's just really different But anyways, I'm

gonna sign out before this turns into a torrential

train wreck and Again, forgive the audio quality.

It's not often I do this. I try not to anyway.

I know the previous episode was kind of muffled

and kind of messed up because I did it from my

car or at least not the previous episode the

one before that but anyways have a great weekend

let me know what you guys are geeking out to

what you guys want to discuss in the next two

episodes and what you want to see in the future

of the show altogether so until next time get

altered get geeky with the altered geeks