- So you hate when people take their shoes off?
- Oh yeah.
- You would hate me on a plane.
- You take your shoes off?
- I take my shoes off, I get comfortable.
- At least they don't smell, hopefully.
- Hopefully. - Yeah.
I would say most people who just see me on the street
think I'm a pretty clean cut, white bread, American guy.
I get Zac Efron a lot.
I don't think I could be with someone
who's not well traveled because for me,
that's such a fundamental part of who I am.
It's something I would want to share with someone
who I'd eventually spend my life with.
- I am looking to find somebody
who is as optimistic as I am.
I want to find somebody who has such a zest for life
and is energetic and full of joy.
I'm not really too fond of pessimists.
So if they're happy and their energy matches mine
then I would love that.
Your name is Joseph and this is your story.
You are 28 years old.
You are a musician.
Your family heritage is Irish.
You have two siblings and you are the youngest.
Your astrological sign is a Pisces.
- My name is Trigg and this is my story.
I am 30 years old.
I work as a camera assistant.
My family heritage is Irish and Italian.
I have 2 siblings and I am the middle child.
My astrological sign is Scorpio.
Your name is Jessica and this is your story.
You are 29 years old.
For work, you are a marketing agent.
Your family heritage is Haitian.
You have one sibling
and you are the oldest sibling in your family.
Your astrological sign is Leo.
- My name is Maurniece and this is my story.
I am 27 years old.
I am a vocational rehabilitation counselor.
My family heritage is African American.
I have one sibling and I am the oldest.
My astrological sign is a Gemini.
- We were way off.
- I got the Irish right. - Yeah.
- I got the siblings right. - You did, you did.
- Yeah.
- Haitian? - Yeah.
- Is it the hair?
- Yeah, I think it was the hair.
- Okay. - And the dress a little bit.
- Okay, Miami vibes.
- Yeah, it seemed Southern and sunny
and beachy, I don't know. - Yeah?
And a Scorpio. - Yeah.
- My best friends are Scorpios.
Yeah, I get along well with Scorpios.
- What are Geminis known for?
- Being two sided.
- Okay. - Yeah.
- What are your two sides?
Or is that giving away too much?
- I'm a happy person as you can see,
but if I was angry, it would be like, "Who is that?"
Scorpios are very emotional.
- So they say.
- Yeah. - I don't know.
I think it's intense emotions one way or another.
- Yes.
- I tend to stay on the positive emotional side
of the spectrum like most the time, but like passionate.
What was your job again?
It was, there's no way I would have ever guessed that.
- A vocational rehabilitation counselor.
- Vocational rehabilitation counselor.
So that's helping people who don't know
what their calling is, right? - Yes, you're the first person
who's ever guessed that correctly.
- It was just understanding what the words mean.
- Yeah.
Exactly what that is.
- Okay.
You have been to eight countries.
You speak two languages.
Your favorite person to travel with is Angela.
You can't stand it when the person
next to you on the plane snores.
You have not lived in any country other than the U.S.
- I have been to three foreign countries.
I speak one language.
My favorite person to travel with is my best friend.
I can't stand when the person next to me blows their nose,
on the plane.
I have not lived in any country other than the U.S.
You have been to five foreign countries.
You speak two languages.
Your favorite person to travel with is your brother.
You can't stand it when the person
next to you on a plane chews loudly.
You have lived in a country other than the U.S.
- I have been to 20 or 30 foreign countries, I'm not sure.
I speak three languages.
My favorite person to travel with is friends.
I can't stand it when the person
next to me on a plane takes their shoes off.
I have lived in a country other than the U.S.
- So you hate when people take their shoes off?
- Oh yeah.
- You would hate me on a plane.
- You take your shoes off?
- I take my shoes off, I get comfortable.
- At least they don't smell, hopefully.
- Hopefully - Yeah.
What three countries have you been to?
- I have been to the Dominican Republic, Jamaica,
and Costa Rica.
- Okay, cool, cool, cool.
- So I need to, you're at 20 to 30,
I really need to travel more.
- Somewhere, I don't know.
- Jeez.
- I lived in Europe, I lived in France for a while
and I lived in China.
So while I was there, you just can get anywhere
really easily, a lot more easier
than when you're in the States, so.
- Why did you live in China?
I was sent there, I was in the Peace Corps.
2 years. - Okay.
Is your friend that you like traveling with,
is her name Angela by chance?
- No.
I don't know anyone named Angela.
- I went all in on Angela.
- You did. - And she let me down.
- Do you have a friend named Angela?
- I don't, I don't know anyone named Angela.
- Because I was going to say, "Oh, wherever she is,
"you don't wanna travel with her."
So shots fired.
- I would love to meet someone named Angela
then it will remind me of you,
like, "Oh, there you are."
- Yeah, we should travel sometime together.
- We should travel sometime.
- You do believe in God.
In your family growing up, religion was important.
You are a Christian.
You would date someone who had
different spiritual beliefs than yours.
You do believe in an afterlife.
You do believe your actions in this life
affect what comes next.
- I do believe in God.
In my family growing up religion wasn't that important.
I don't identify with a specific religion.
If I had to choose one, I would say Christian.
I would date somebody with different spiritual beliefs
than I have.
I do believe in an afterlife.
And I do believe that my actions in this life
would affect what comes next.
You do believe in God.
In your family growing up religion was important.
You are a Christian.
You would not date somebody
who held different spiritual beliefs than yours.
You do believe in an afterlife.
You do believe that your actions in this life
affects what comes next.
- I do not believe in God.
In my family growing up religion was casual.
I am an atheist.
I would date someone with different spiritual beliefs
than myself.
I do not believe my actions in this life
affect what comes next.
- Okay.
- Yeah, mine is pretty easy to understand.
- Pretty easy to understand.
- Picture nothing, picture nothing.
I paint everything was that brush.
- Where did that come from?
Why don't you believe in anything?
- I'm not sure, I think it's something you do feel.
I never tried to convince anyone of my own feelings.
I think it's if you're like, "Hey, I feel cold."
Someone will be like, "Well, I feel warm."
Am I making, no trust me, it's cold in here.
- Yeah.
- I've just always felt cold, so to speak.
I grew up in a religious household.
They would say like, "Oh, we need to pray before meals."
We would go to church, we would do all these things.
I went to Catholic school.
I did all of these things and I always felt like,
I was like, "Why am I doing this?"
Same way I would ask, "Why do I have to make my bed?
"I'm the one sleeping in it."
I was like, "Why do I have to pray?
"I don't feel like there's anyone listening."
And so for me, it's always just the way you feel.
And I've always felt like there's nothing there.
But you were kind of the inverse.
You said, your family didn't really have religion,
but you've at least gotten some sense of spirituality
in your life.
Does that come from experiences or gut?
- Kind of opposite of you
how you don't feel like anyone's there,
I do feel like something's there,
someone has to be there.
- I get it.
- Yeah, I definitely feel that.
I agree with the story of God
and Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins.
The reason that I wouldn't label myself a Christian per se
is because with any religion,
I don't agree with every single thing that they believe in.
- Do you believe Jesus was divine?
- Yes. - A guy who was really great?
I believe he was the son of God.
- He was divine? - Yeah.
Okay, yeah.
- Pretty sure.
You have been afraid of your life before.
You are scared of dying.
If you had six months to live,
the first thing you would do
is travel to every place that you haven't been before.
Assisted suicide to you is sometimes an option.
Of all the people you know who have died,
the one whose death was hardest for you,
I would say is your grandfather.
- I have been afraid for my life.
I am scared of dying.
If I had six months to live,
the first thing I would do is make a list of things to do.
I think assisted suicide is sometimes an option.
Of all the people that have died in my life,
the one whose death is the hardest was my cousin.
You have been afraid for your life.
You are scared of dying.
If you had six months to live,
the first thing you would do is spend time with your family.
You think assisted suicide is sometimes an option.
Of all the people you know that have died,
the one whose death was the hardest for you
was your grandmother.
- I have been afraid for my life before.
I am afraid of dying.
If I had six months to live, the first thing
that I would do is travel to a foreign place
with my family and friends.
I don't think that assisted suicide is ever an option.
Of all the people that I've known who have died,
the one whose death was the hardest was my grandmother.
Yeah, so.
- Do you believe you will be reincarnated as a person
or as anything under the sun?
- I think as a person.
I think I'll just go into living a new life.
I think that whatever you may have judged in this lifetime,
you'll come back as that thing.
And you think you'll just cease to exist?
- I think so, I have no idea one way or another.
But I cease to exist when I fall asleep.
So it's not that difficult for me to imagine
that I will cease to exist when--
- Got it. - When my brain disappears.
- All right.
So you think assisted suicide is an option sometimes?
- I think your life is yours.
So other people can do what they want with it.
I can't imagine the situation myself
but the same thing your body, your choice,
your life, your choice, if--
- Okay, good point.
A spin on that. - Yeah, it's just for me.
- With your cousin was his death sudden?
Did you know it was coming?
- No, it was a surprise to everyone.
My cousin committed suicide.
And so it happened like obviously very suddenly,
and it was unexpected.
He seemed happy and everything was great.
And so that's sort of why it was such a difficult shock
for myself and my family. - Gotcha.
- That's what then shaped my mind to say like,
"You never know what other people are feeling."
and maybe if they feel like they have other options,
then you can help them but if they feel trapped,
because options are limited,
then they might choose somewhat frantically
and make a drastic decision.
- And you said the hardest death in your life
was your grandmother's.
- Yeah, her death was very, very unexpected.
I had just spoken with her that same day.
It was like a freak accident.
She fell in the bathroom, hit her head
and she just died and so, yeah.
- How old were you?
What time of your life?
- I was my early 20s.
I think I was about 24.
So it was just a few years ago.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
So that was very difficult because how it happened
and she was the last person
that I would have expected to just die.
- Yeah, so being able to talk with her that morning
was the context of that conversation
something that you feel comfortable being
your last conversation with her?
Or is there something more that you wish
you could share with her?
- So, right before she died,
I was in the stage where I was still in college.
And when you're young, the only thing
that's important are your friends and parties
and having fun.
So, a lot of times when she would call
I would be busy or 'busy', I'm on my way to a party.
And I wouldn't call it back or I would,
"Hey, I have to talk to you for five minutes
"and then I have to go wherever, whatever."
Her last voicemail that she actually left for me.
I think I forgot to call her
in her last words on the voice mail
were that I hurt her feelings.
She thought she hung up but she didn't.
So she was talking to someone else saying,
"Oh, that really hurt my feelings."
And so it was that and then the conversation
that I had with her and then she died.
So I have a lot of guilt.
I wish I could apologize,
I wish I could just tell her how I felt about her
and spend more time with her.
- Yeah I know it's very difficult.
- It is.
- I'm sure she would have forgiven you,
you're her granddaughter.
- I know.
- Yeah, I think it definitely, something like that,
as with my cousin teaches you,
how to then love the people who are there.
- I believe that your deal breakers are
someone who is a homebody because you like to travel.
Someone who's too tall and someone who's not religious.
- My deal breakers are gluten free,
unemployed, and no sense of humor.
I believe your deal breakers are
if the person is mean,
if it's a long distance relationship,
or if the person is Republican.
- My deal breakers are,
if the person is arrogant, too judgmental and pessimistic.
- I wouldn't like any of those people's either.
- Gluten free?
Why is that a dealbreaker?
- I eat so much gluten that it would complicate.
I have a friend who's gluten free
and she even says,
"I don't know if I can come to your apartment."
Because I cook lots of like pizza and pasta.
- Yeah.
- Are you gluten free?
- Yeah.
- Gluten free?
- No, I'm kidding. - Oh gosh.
I was like it took the entire thing
to find out the dealbreaker.
We should have started with deal breakers.
Save ourselves some time.
- Trigg, when I first saw you,
I said that I would not date you.
And now that I've gotten to know you,
I still would not date you.
- Maurneice, when I first saw you,
I said that I would date you.
And now that I've come to know you,
I said that I would not date you.
- You wouldn't date me?
- You never would date me.
- You say it's the opposite.
I wouldn't date you then I would.
- You're awesome, though.
For me it's the languages thing.
I travel all the time, and go so many places.
So that's so fundamental to who I am.
And I was like, I don't know if it would work out.
And it'll be a difficult thing to pursue
knowing how important that is to me.
Did your reason to not date me change
from the beginning to the end?
Or was it always the same?
- It changed a little,
but then you lost me again, with the atheist question.
- Yeah, I think it's the same thing
when you feel something so strongly in your gut
as far as an existence of something.
And for me, that's my gut
when it comes to worldliness, so to speak.
- It was very nice.
- So nice meeting you as well.
- All right. - Great.
- Have a good one. - You too.
The whole date was less weird, it really did feel
like it was just me and her being ourselves.
I didn't really have an awareness of the cameras
and everything else going on.
I was just trying to talk to someone,
but I thought it was gonna be like people were listening
but it didn't seem that way.
- I felt like we really connected a bit.
I thought his vibe was really good.
I felt like we had the same views on a lot of things.
My answer was actually gonna change from I wouldn't
to I would until he dropped the atheist bomb.
So that kind of is one of my deal breakers as well.
- I think you never know
if you're gonna set me up with someone
who matches what you think is perfect.
But you never know with two people what they'll click on
and what they might not click on.
As I think it was just it was interesting
to get to know the person
after I made decisions on who they were.
- The most memorable part of this experience
was just to vibe with someone new.
I think it went well, even though we decided
that we wouldn't date each other.
- Thanks for watching, Tell My Story
and thanks for sending in so many great questions.
- If you would like to see more,
please subscribe to SoulPancake
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