Armchair Anonymous: Wild Card XIII

Welcome, welcome, welcome to Armchair Anonymous. I'm Dan Shepherd. I'm joined by Mike Padman. Michael. Today we have a wild card number 13. Oh wow. Unlucky number 13. A baker's dozen, if you will. A baker's D. Yes. If you prefer. A B B. Please enjoy wild card. ♪ All times ♪ ♪ Come and go ♪ ♪ Good times ♪ ♪ Take 'em slow ♪ ♪ My life ♪ ♪ I had 'em go ♪ ♪ Remember one thing ♪ ♪ You gotta know ♪ ♪ I'ma keep 'em shining ♪ - Whoa! - Hello, are you? I noticed you have some indoor flora, and that's really lovely. Tell me about that. Thank you. This is my money tree. It's doing really well. Yeah, very well. They don't get that big. Tell me about a money tree. Oh God, I don't really know anything about it, other than it's a name. And that it's ridiculously easy to take care of. And then my spider plant questionable, not doing so well. You have a spider plant in a money tree. You only want flora that has a kind of different name. Yes. Maybe you should get a rubber tree too. I actually have one. No, you don't. I do, my dad gave it to me. Oh my goodness. Is it mature enough for you to harvest rubber from it? No, it's definitely allergic too. So it sits in a jar in my window. It's happy I'm not gonna touch it. Yeah, I just saw they do it. They just scrape a little tiny bit of the bark off and then they hang this little device at the end and then it just rubber pours out. It's so cool. Yeah, it is really cool. Where are you at? I am in your Brunswick, Canada. Oh, wonderful. We love our Canadian listeners. Thank you. Okay, so you have a wild card story. I do. I have a really weird kind of embarrassing story for you guys. Oh, those are our favorite. To set the scene, this was about six years ago. I was pretty heavily pregnant at the time. With my first, I was about eight months pregnant, almost ready to pop. And intimacy at that point kind of hard to come by. So I wanted to surprise my boyfriend when he got home from work and I kind of tried to set the scene, dim some lights, let some candles, put on some music, put on something that made me feel a little bit sexy. He gets home from work and he's pretty excited and I'm pretty excited. And then, you know, all the four-place stuff happens, the usual and then we're getting into it on the couch because my center of gravity is off a little. I need something to hold on to, lean over the bedrooms, just not doing it for me anymore. Okay, though, but the couch is already a little too small for a bunch of activity for two adults. It worked perfectly. I mean, you just lean over the arm of the couch, right? He's behind me. It just worked out. Okay, great. So I'm leaning over the side of the couch and I hear him go, oh my God, oh my God. And I'm thinking, yeah, I'm doing great. I'm feeling a great time, so hot. Everything's awesome. I had my eyes closed just like totally feeling the moment and then I realized while my eyes are closed that I see this light in front of my eyes. So I'm thinking, oh, shit, somebody came into the room 'cause at the time we were living in his mom's basement apartment. Oh, okay, okay. So we had the music on loud enough that somebody could have come in and we wouldn't have known it, right? Yeah, plus you're in the heat of the moment, you're distracted. Exactly, worst nightmare I was terrified somebody had come in. So I opened my eyes and I realized, no, the light's not on but there's a light right in front of my face. It took me a couple of seconds and he's not moving anymore. I'm wondering what's going on and then I realized I had leaned over the candle and my hair was up in flames. Oh my God. Oh my goodness, you were a blaze. Yeah. Oh my God, it was so bright that you noticed. A human torch. I'm shocked you didn't smell it instantly. Especially with like, you know, pregnant, your sense of smell is just so heightened, right? But that part definitely comes into play. So I hopped off and I'm slapping myself on the side of the face repeatedly, trying to get this fire out. And I look over at my boyfriend and he's standing there just like naked and afraid, staring at me. Oh God, it's like do something. Why are you not helping me? I think he was in shock, honestly. So I get the fire out. And then my response to stressful situations is to just laugh. It's got me in trouble before. It's like a funeral all the time. It's embarrassing. Sure, sure. It's a great place for a laugh. I've had him. Right, like it's so awkward. So anyway, I'm like naked as the day I was born eight months pregnant, hands on my knees, just gasping for air, just laughing. I couldn't stop laughing. And this man's probably questioning all his life choices being like, why am I having a baby with this girl with the fuck's going on? She's crazy. And that's when the smell hit me. So just a preface, I am a nurse. I work in the operating room. I've smelled burnt flesh, a smoked necrotic bowel, the worst kind of infection you can imagine. Oh, but hold on pause. Just hear those words, fill in the blanks, necrotic bowel. Yeah, not good. That's got to be the worst place to have necrosis. It's nasty. Do you have anything you put below your nose? Sometimes we use masks. It's all just a kind of dab it onto our masks. It smells like a tree. It smells really like a pine tree almost. It smells really good. But I mean, during pregnancy, I couldn't use that. So I just had to suffer. And you're stuck to the smell. You can't distance yourself from it. Oh, yeah. And it stays with you. You take that home. OK, so we're back in the downstairs basement. So once the smell hits me, I, you know, at eight months pregnant was dealing with a lot of nausea. It didn't agree with me. And on top of all the smells that I've ever smelled in my career, that one in that moment has to take the cake in the worst moment of my life. I did not handle it well. More than a chronic bowel. It was the perfect storm of everything. Probably very heightened and exacerbated by your pregnancy, right? I probably smelled differently to you than than it would today. Exactly. And I mean, it's like, breathe. There, it's on the face. It's not going anywhere. I can't get away from it. It's you. So I started gagging and gagging and gagging. And I couldn't stop. And then I realized, OK, I'm getting to the point where something's going to come up. So I ran to the bathroom, slammed the bathroom door, hit the floor, make it just in time to throw up into the toilet. And then after a few minutes of that, I hear a gentle knock on the door. And my boyfriend goes, Sarah, are you OK? [LAUGHTER] No. No, I'm not OK. I just had the worst thing happen to me. I have a strange hunch you're not OK. I saw that you were on fire. And then now I hear you're throwing up violently. But I have a hunch you, are you not OK? No. Definitely not OK. I ended up hopping into the shower, shampooed my hair, probably five or six times, had a good cry, but the fact that a big chunk of my hair wasn't missing. Oh, no. And you're already feeling you're pretty. And you have beautiful hair, by the way. Thankfully, it's really long and thick. So it hid really well. I didn't have to go to my hairdresser and explain that to her. Shhh, shhh, shhh, shhh, shhh, shhh. I ended up leaving the bathroom and going over to him. And he stepped up in that moment after the fact and comforted me a little bit. And I was thinking, OK, this is it. Like, he's not going to touch me again until after this baby pops out or intimacy's done for months. And then he goes, I'm glad that you're OK. So do you want to finish what we started? OK, great. And I'm glad that was a plus for you, because I'm like, I'm sure he's going to ask if he can finish. Well, I said no. I went and took a nap. Sure, that was a big adventure. But you were relieved to hear he was still very interested. Yes. This is what we try to tell everyone as our PSA announcements. Like, you're worried about how your bangs look. Do you think you have one dot of cellulite somewhere? Like, the things you're obsessing about, we still want to fuck if you're on fire and wreak and just threw up. Like, you don't need to worry about us. Yeah, after two kids have come to realize that he doesn't care. Yeah, nothing can really stand in the way. Yeah. So you've had more than one now? That was number one? Yeah, that was number one. And just about five months ago, we had our second. Oh, congratulations. Thank you so much. Well, I'm really glad that you didn't lose your whole mane. Oof, that would have been tough. I would have been devastated. So you got it out by just patting it? Right, like, it would have been nice if you would have thrown me a glass of water or blanket over my head or something. But no, I was on my own. So I just beat myself up a little. Oh, man. Oh, Sarah, what a funny, clumsy, and really scary scenario. Yeah, because hair goes up quick, right? You could lose your whole hair in seconds. Daddy's scary. Yeah, I learned that day. Sure does. Oh, no, guys, cautionary tale. Other PSA candles, they're very dangerous people. Underestimate, they smell good, they're pretty. But boy, they bring down a lot of houses. You gotta be careful if you're going to be a candle owner. Definitely give me a healthy dose of paranoia. They set a gram on fire on Thanksgiving that we know about. Sure did. Thank you for calling. And also for being a nurse and helping everyone. We love our nurses. Oh, thank you. I'm so touched. Do you get foreign body up there in Canada? Foreign object in bodies? Oh, yeah. Craziest item you've seen. I haven't been lucky enough to scrub in on one of those yet. But craziest I've heard of is probably an apple or a remote. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Yeah, we've heard of it. We've just had an apple. And it's always, I fell. No, you didn't. It's so sad they think that's convincing. Nothing's plausible, but that's the most plausible. Well, no, it's not. No, I know it's not plausible, but in their mind, what other option? Maybe just say I put it up there. I like how I'm fine. I guess. If you're coming into the operating room to get an apple taken out of your ass, I mean, just go to admit how you bought it. Exactly. Exactly. I'm with you. All right, Sarah. We'll enjoy your summer. Thanks for chatting. Thank you so much. You guys as well. I appreciate it. All right. Take care. Bye-bye. Fire stories. Cautionary tail. Sucks gone wrong. Always have a fire extinguisher when you have sex. I used to have a fire extinguisher at my room. Much pop one under your bed. Oh, my God. - I can't, based on my bed frame. - I know, I don't like the fancy bed frames. Don't give you that gap. That's a useful bit of storage. - It is, I don't really need storage, but it would be good to hide a vaccine, sure. - And a baseball bat and a shotgun. - Yeah, I'm good on that. - Okay, emergency but I don't want it. - That he didn't the night stand. - Okay. - Hi. - Hi. - Your name is Shema. - Is that an Irish name? What is that? - No, it's from North Africa. - I'm from Algeria. - Okay. - Beautiful. - So it is a morish origin? - It means like very beautiful. To simplify it. - We love that. - It's accurate. - Yes. - Thank you guys. - So are you French? - Yes, I'm French. I'm from Paris. - Oh wow. - Did you live there currently? - Yes. - Are you gonna host Monica for dinner next week? - Yeah, I'm gonna be in Paris in a couple of weeks. - For what event? - Just play. - Ooh, you're gonna enjoy it because the weather is gonna be super nice next week. - Oh. - I know you're a fashion local, so. - Oh, I'm so glad. - You're from Paris. - Yeah, I went from Fashionista to Fashion Mobile. - Oh, I love that. - Why do you speak English so well? - It's related to my story, but there used to work in fashion. - Oh, just spray. - I got it. - Yeah. - So excited. - What if you stood up and went straight to LAX and flew to Paris today? We have no clue what it is. We have photos, but we haven't looked at them. So please tell us. - So give you a bit of context. It was in 2007. I was 19 years old and a fashion student. So in Paris, in a fashion school, and our homework were mainly swing clothes. It was late at night. I was swing and like a lot of people swing. I had the head pins in my mouth. - Oh, no. - At some point, I don't remember. It was really late. I coughed or sneeze. I don't know, but I swallowed it. - Ooh. - You swallowed a bunch of pins. - Yeah, one. - Go one pin. - Oh. - No. - Fuck no. - That's horrible. - Now, is it a safety pin or just one of the pins that's just straight with the little thing on the top? - Not the safety pin. This one, the dangerous one. - Okay. - You know, it's like a sewing needle probably right here. - Yeah, exactly. - Yeah, they're just with a flat head. (upbeat music) - So I ran straight to my mom's room to wake her up and told her like, "I just swallowed a pin." And she said, "Okay, let's go to the yard." "To understand my mom is a doctor." And like, a few weeks earlier, she told me, "Yeah, you should stop doing that because it's quite dangerous." - Yeah. - So she takes me to the yard. We arrive, we meet the night shift doctor there. So I got a bunch of exam and especially a radiography. And especially a radiography to have an image of, where could be the pin? After that, the doctor comes and she says, "Okay, we need to go there and you need to undress completely because I think the pin is on your body. You didn't swallow it." - What? - So I started to strip and she checks everything. She said, "Yeah, it's not in your digestive system. I don't see it. It's near the boobs, so it must be there." And I'm like, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure I felt it, but I listen." Okay? And she finds nothing, she tells me, "Okay, you go home, eat some bread. If it's somewhere, it will just pass through." - Optimistic. I mean, this doesn't seem like it might pass through. - We go home on the right back. I tell my mom, "That's weird because when I breathe, I can feel it." - Oh. - So I go home, I eat bread, I go to bed. Next morning, I wake up, I go to the kitchen, I find my mom, I can see she didn't sleep at all. And she called a friend of her that she's a surgeon and he came for a breakfast after his night shift. The dude asked me like two questions. He looked at my mom and said, "It's in the lungs." - Oh. - No. - So my mom like her eyes light up and she was like, "Eh, dress up, let's go to the yard." - Oh my God. - So we went back to the yard and fortunately, or unfortunately for the doctor, the same doctor was there. And my mom got so pissed at her. She was screaming, she didn't believe her. It's probably in her lung, she could have collapsed. So they take other exam and it's in the lungs. So I didn't swallow it, I inhaled it. - Oh. - Holy shit. - But what now? - I was admitted for surgery. So I spent three days in the hospital. They had to do a bronchoscopy. What was funny is that every nurse that were taking me from a room to another where all asked me, "Hey, where are you here?" And I was explaining and they were all laughing and they're also like, "What the fuck?" And the Indians took it out. - They go in with a scope through your air wave in the ear and lung. Okay, so I don't have to open up your skin or anything. - Exactly. But everything went well. They gave me back the pin. It was already roting actually. I still have it somewhere in my house. - Oh my God, you could have gotten seps, a million things could have gone wrong. But definitely sepsis, rusting. - In the picture, you can see the pin. I was actually very lucky because I followed it on the right side, the flat side at the bottom. - And why is that lucky? - Because if it was the opposite, I think I would have popped my lung. - Oh, here it is. - Oh, really? - Oh, we're bad at looking at this by the way. - I thought it was gonna be on the computer, so it was bigger. - No, we're just not good at understanding it. - We'd be terrible radiologists. Because we did four and objects in body last week. - Which this is a foreign object in body, but not in a way. - Not rectum. - Rectally, in a way. - That's how I titled my story actually. A foreign object in body, not in bed. (laughing) - Oh wow. - I can't believe it didn't puncture anything. - No, I got really lucky because I stood for maybe 48 hours before the surgery on me. And then after three days, it was okay. It didn't need antibiotics. - Wow. - Really? - I went back to school and so everyone knew. When I arrived, I remember in my swimming class, the teacher was Japanese with a real big Japanese accent, not speaking very good French and he saw me and he just said, "You stupid." And that's it. (laughing) - A lot of fun cultural stuff going on. - Wow. - Yeah, if you call the students stupid in this country, they'd be like, "You go see the dean, there'd be a walk out." (laughing) It'd be surprise in French. - Yeah. Fashion is expensive on a lot of levels. - Oh yeah. - I could imagine maybe that's a common thing in the sewing world. - The tellers at the beginning, yeah, you have something to put the pin there, but like everyone puts it in the mouth. It's easier like to have it. And sometimes I could have like 10 pins in my mouth, which is stupid, I don't do it anymore. - I do it with screws. When I'm doing like wall anchors, I'll put all four or if I'm hammering stuff, I'll put all the nails in my mouth. Maybe not anymore. - Yeah, be careful. - Yeah. - I'll just make sure I breathe through my nose. Wow. - Eek. - Oh my Lord. - Well, I'm really glad you're okay. - Yeah, and Shayma, do you listen to the show? - Yes. - In France, when did you discover it? - Actually, it's a shout out to one of my best friends. She introduced me to the show. We do love pop stories, so it's our favorites. - Good, good, good. (laughing) I actually listen to most American podcasts. You're on top of my list, I listen to you guys every week, so now I put a face on the voices I listen to. - Oh, that's lovely. - Yeah, we're flattered. - Very. - I will say I'm a moniker for me when you see her in Paris. - Oh yeah. - I hope so. - Well, this was lovely. - Thank you guys. Thank you for welcoming me in the show. And can I give you a final shout out? - Yes. - Yes. - It's to my coworker Maria, because she likes the show and she's also listening to it. She's from Spain, actually. - Oh my God. - Oh my God. - My face in Europe. - I love this. - Well, thank you, Shema. - Thank you so much, guys. - Bye. - Bye. - Bye. - Bye. - I'm so charmed by the French accent. - Just love, 'cause they're so cool there. If they're listening to us, it's really exciting. - Look at the camera. It looks like a magic trick kind of, right? So there's this. - Wait, what? I'm not noticing. Look at the camera. - No, I'm sorry, look at the screen. - Oh. - And then look at this. - This is a magic trick. Oh, well, there wasn't a good magic trick, but here's a magic trick. - Oh, okay. - So, it looks like it just changed to green. Right, now that wasn't a good magic trick, but here comes a good magic trick, okay? What? - Uh-oh. - Did you feel it? - I think that's a really good magic trick. - Okay, do it again. That one was better. It's a really good magic trick. (laughs) - I mean, it's so good at magic. - Yeah, and you don't even like magic. - But now I do. - All the required was you. - I can be able to do it. - Being able to do one trick. - Yeah, is that as shocker to you? I don't like anything I can't do. - That's crazy. - If I can't do it, it's for idiots. - Oh, okay. - But if I can do it, it's for kings. - Cool people. - That's for kings and neurons. (laughs) Yeah, that's a good magic trick. - Okay, well, for the listener. - Oh, that one's so good. - That was really-- - People saw the trick. - It's just twisting the naked feet. - But it's so fast that on the camera, it does look like, watch one more time. I'm the cutest little boy. - Oh, no. - For me, watch me jump, watch me play. I'm the cutest little boy, I'm for me. Watch me jump, watch me play. - Hello. - Hey, guys, how are you? - Oh, Alex, I'm so envious of the denseness of your hair. - You're a nice hair. - You have plumage. - Thank you, I grew up myself. - You probably take it for granted, yeah. - I think so. I have a lot of functionality when I want to cut my hair. can plan though. Yeah, you could go long. Everything's on the table for you could even have a shaved head. I bet you would look great. I've done that before. I used to cut my hair in college and I made a lot of mistakes. Yeah. And how do you look with the shave? That's pretty good. I don't have to ask my wife. Okay. Yeah. Look at you and try not to brag. I know. He's a humble and handsome. Yeah. And then you're a skier. Yes. Good job, Monica. She doesn't feel fun. It's all right. That's all right. I wish I hadn't done it. But you're across country skier. These are actually old vintage Alpine skis from like the 40s. Oh, back before you had rear bindings and people do that weird pirouetti thing. Even before that, where skiing was actually just used for transportation and not for pleasure or leisure. That sounds miserable, actually, because you're just like trekking. You gotta get some. You're like in the Finnish military at that point. Yeah. Exactly. Where are you at, Alex? I am in my home in Morrison, Colorado. Okay. Great. We would hope it was an Alpine location with the ski thing. I'm originally from Ottawa, Canada, which is not mountainous. I moved here 13 years ago, strategically to pursue a life of skiing. Yeah. Well, my life was skiing. And actually, there's a lot of this story is based around one of those experiences. Oh, wonderful, wonderful. Okay. And you're liking Colorado. Did you marry an American married a Colorado? And we met in college in Big Sky State, Montana. Oh, nice. Big Sky. Great skiing. Yeah. So the mountains have always been calling. Yeah. And it's a good place, right? If you got to pick an American state in you're from Canada, that's a pretty good transition. 100%. I first visited Colorado when I was 14. And it was one of those things I went home and my mom's like, I wasn't. I'm like, I'm going to move there, live there one day. And it was one of those like pat on the head. That's really cute, honey. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I thought, you know, by that somehow, immigration, who knows, we'll make it. You did it. Yeah. Okay. So you have a wild card story. Please tell us. Yes. So this story is being pulled from the archives, which took place 26 years ago. And I'll preface this with the fact that it's not a tremendously fun story. But it's a two generation story of fate with a healthy dose of stimulation theory. We love it. Simulation. Oh, simulation theory. I was like, I'm unaware of stimulation theory. But I could easily make it. Yeah. Sam. So this takes place in November of 2000 in a small town called Caprune, in Austria. And there's a ski glacier there called Kittsteinhorn. But I was a sophomore at a ski racing academy in Vermont. And this is kind of where the simulation starts. My mom went to that school and was in the first graduating class in 1976 in Vermont or Austria. In Vermont. And I was the first second generation student to attend that school. But for context, both of our graduating classes were six or less. Oh my god. Wow. There's about 60 kids in the school ish. So this isn't a math of legacy high school where several generations attend. This school was regimented. We skied December through April, nearly every day between racing and training. And in the falls, we would play varsity soccer against other schools in Vermont. But predominantly, we would spend August, October in very scheduled heavy dry land and weight training sessions in preparation for the ski season. Can I ask how you had enough students to assemble a soccer team? You need quite a few players for that. Everybody played 60s enough. But through all the grades, right? His grade was only six. I know, but it's all the grades. Yeah, freshmen played on the same team as seniors. It was a collective. We weren't the strongest, but it was one of those breakfasts. We had to play, but we do dry land training for the fall months. And I only tell you this depending on how regimented things were and scheduling was a huge focus. Once the dry land season was over, and of October, we would search for snow. And being in the East Coast, we'd usually find ourselves in Europe in late October, early November, and then here in Colorado and the November for training and some early season races and stuff. I got to ask a personal question and it's probably shame inducing, but your parents have to have money, right? This sounds hugely expensive to have your kid in the school. It's expensive. We had a lot of help from my grandparents. That's nice. That's nice. So in 2000, our snow search took us to Austria, the slow town of Caprune. Our plan was to be there for two weeks before making it back to the U.S. and then out to the Rockies. Now Caprune is a small town in the Salzburg province of the Austrian office. It's hugely quintessential with overpowering snow with cow shit, but it had a ton of classic wooden structures, wooden stutters, all of those things. So very picturesque. But we were going to be there for 12 days, training a ton of those days. Given we were a bunch of high schoolers, some more unhinged and unpredictable than others, we were on a tight schedule that I was talking about. They kept tabs on all of us, but our daily schedule would be consistent. We could just have a 30. We'd go for a quick jog or warm up. We'd have breakfast and then we'd grab all our gear, pile in some vans and go to the bottom of the mountain to catch the nine o'clock, a vernacular train, which took us up to the base of the ski area. And for those who don't know what a vernacular is, it's a really steep train that goes through a cutout tunnel into the mountain to the base of the glacier. So we're two and a half miles in a tunnel before opening up and being at the base where all the lodges are. So we've followed this schedule for the first four days. It was intended for us to follow that the fifth day, November 11th, our last day of training before our birthday off. This is when the doctor struck. Thinking back, using my high school memory, we had lost power at the hotel, which reset all the clocks in the hotel. So if you remember, no cell phones, no alarm clocks can maintain that schedule. So our coaches woke us up early and we deviated from that schedule. But for us, I mean, it felt like a normal day. We woke up, warm up eight vans and base of the mountain and we got there for the first train, which is at eight o'clock. We reached the base of the glacier and it was a beautiful day. There were no clouds, bright blue sky. For those that are seeing through this, fresh brooms, braille. I mean, this thing was like ready for us and it felt like really the only ones there. It was predominantly serviced by T-bars. So we were expected to be on those T-bars as soon as we had all of our gear on and our coaches would go up and start studying the courses and the training for the day. We should probably explain a T-bar because I don't think people haven't skied understanding what that is. It's a lift that, I mean, honestly, it looks like an upside down tee and it goes behind your butt and the cable just pulls you up. It's like being on a tow rope, but you don't have to go on to the tow if you're not leaning on this bracket. And the thing with T-bars is you know, if you've been on them, sometimes you fall or it gets caught in your clothes. And if that happens, you fall and you get dragged up the mountain until the T-bar stops by the operator and you can reach that. So my friend and I were on the T-bar, probably on our second or third warm-up run. And this is around nine o'clock and this is when the T-bar stopped abruptly. And again, we thought someone had fallen, but 10 minutes had gone by, which started to feel a little bit too long. So we started commenting on how, you know, the lift you probably need to go get a shot of snaps or whatever it was and brings some levity to a fact that we haven't had moved in a while. But this is when our coaches started skiing down to every single occupied T-bar, asking everyone to grab their stuff and head to the base. This is when we turned around and got off and we saw a large black plume of smoke in the air coming from the train area with flames shooting out of the building. What? Oh my god. The black smoke was such a contrast to the blue sky. And the air began to smell like burned plastics. The nine o'clock train was the one that we were scheduled to be on that day. It had malfunctioned in the tunnel, causing the two trains to emergency stop inside the tunnel and sparking a fire that engulfed both trains and the entire tunnel. Oh my god. Oh my god. An emergency exit door at the top of the tunnel had been left open, so the wind tunnel effects fueled the flames, putting everything and everyone in the tunnel and an uncontrollable inferno. Holy shit. There were 161 people trapped who died that day. Oh my god. Well, people ended up escaping. In the last train, they broke a window and escaped down below the fire and the smoke towards the base of the train. At this point in our lives, there were no cell phones, especially for high school kids. We had no way of checking in or contacting our parents in live time. And given the time difference between Austria and Eastern US, our parents woke up to breaking world news of a train that had cut fire at the glacier we were at killing every passenger. I can't believe a parent. Oh my god. Also, only 12 out of 172 people, that's why. It took us several hours to evacuate this area, which was done using one large tram. That wasn't in service for the last year, so we did one tram at a time. You know, they wanted to make sure the cables were healthy enough, so they didn't overload. These trams took us a long time and while we waited, this is when we started to see body bags being pulled from the top of the train station, medical helicopters doing the rounds consistently and it was loud and it was chaotic which was a polarizing experience to the environment that we were in, right? It's beautiful and now you have this chaos. One of my classmates was covered in black ash because while we were skiing, he was tending to a broken boot and he was sitting on a bench facing the sliding doors to the tunnel when the initial burst of smoke and flames came up into the tunnel. He ended up being fallen and unscathed but he reminded me of the boy and the original Mary Poppins that stuck his face into the cannon. - Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, oh man. - So it kinda looked like that blasted by set. From what I'm told, our parents called the school in a frenzy as parents would and they were told they saw it, we were okay. And it wasn't before we got back to the hotel that we were able to call our parents and do the wellness check with nothing that we were fine. And to your point earlier, Monica, you know, as a parent now I have two girls, seven or 11. I can't even imagine the type of terrifying anxiety or worry that our parents felt while they waited for a call. - Yeah. - That is a true nightmare. - I hate to bring levity to it but I will say when you finally called your parents, that would have been an ideal time to also unload some secret you had. - Sure. - Like I made it also, I'm the one who crashed the car in the garage. I didn't see anything. - Anything you had said, he wasn't given a shit about it at that point. - I think I might have been 15 years old. I didn't have that forethought. - Sussussussussussussussuss. - If I could go back in time, I like we would have confessed to some things. - Did you think about it a lot after? - Yeah, I mean, I think about it often. We've got lots of tunnels here in Colorado and in tunnels now these days still, it's one of those things Rambo is looking for the exit doors and it's just one of those traumas that have stayed. - There was a funicular accident in Austria recently again, right? - I hadn't heard that but that would be really unfortunate. - 'Cause we were there a few summers ago. By the way, we were in that area and then we also took one up in a little town called Hallstedt and there's a big funicular. And yeah, every time you're on them, you're like, "I guess this works." You know, you're at like a 45 degree angle. - Yeah, and you're so deemed. - And it's just a straight shot down them out and you're like, "Oh no, but the brakes will deploy." blah, blah, blah. It's always a little hairy those things. - Certainly. So whatever had happened that night before, whatever prompted our coaches to wake us up earlier and we start the day earlier. I mean, we were scheduled to be on that train. That's a slice of fate. But here's where the simulation comes back. So in June of 1975, during my mom's junior year at the same school, due to returning to the East Coast from a ski training camp at Mount Hood with the U.S. ski team, her flight from Portland had mechanical issues and was delayed. She was intended to go from Portland to Chicago, Chicago JFK and then up to Montreal, where my grandparents would pick her up. But because of that delay, she missed that connecting flight in Chicago by minutes. The plane was still there, but the doors were shut kind of thing. That fled from Chicago to JFK and it ended up hitting a massive microburst in the final approach and the plane crashed, killing the passengers on that. - Stop it. - That is impossible. - Oh my. - You're knocking. - Yeah, knock on wood. - That is crazy. - Yeah, my mom reminded me of that story when I told her I was gonna come on and speak with you both. Like, do you remember that whole plane thing? That was when I was at that school, too. And I was like, you know what? If anyone's gonna appreciate this simulation, it's these two, so I'm gonna print out. - You two are the luckiest people alive. - Obvious thought is, you're not gonna now send one of your kids to that school. - I know, right. - How many times do you guys need to like dodge? - Okay, well, I'm not gonna whip, but they'd be okay. But you would be causing some of that thing. - Yeah, you might be sentencing some people to try to do. - Oh. - Yeah. - Wow Alex. - That was wild. - Wild, wild card. - Lived up to its name, wild card. - Yeah. - Have you been back there? - Not to that glacier. No, but I've been back to Austria before. I love Austria. So that's a beautiful country. - You feel like you're in a story book the whole time. - For sure, both my girls ski now and they're starting to do their thing with that. And my goal is to get them over to the Alps at some point or the Dolomites and have them skiing there and just for them to see it. I know that my youngest will say, "Oh, it looks like the pound from frozen." - They tell people in Halsted that the town of Airendel was modeled after it. - Oh, was it? - It wasn't, but they say that. That's like the war there, but it's actually not true. But yes, it does look very much like Airendel from frozen. Did the skiing stay fun for you? Did it sound so regimented? I'm wondering, was it fun throughout all that? It must have been 'cause you stuck with it. - I love the sport. So actually I've skied through high school and then took two years off and skied full time. And then I went to college in Montana where I met my wife, feed in college. It was a great sport, very fortunate to have experienced everything that I did. And if my kids want to, that's great. But it's one of those things where I just wanted to be fun for them. I want this story years or now to be, well, we just skied. That's just kind of what we did. And I do want them to be better than their spouses. Yeah, and that's a healthy bar. You can hit that target just fine. - Yeah. Wow. - Oh, it was lovely meeting you, Ellen. - So nice to meet you. That's a really crazy story. - Likewise. It's okay, my wife is here as well. - Yes, bring her in. - I want to see her the thickness of her hair. Let's see what this kid's got. - She's got a good head too. My wife Lauren, so she introduced me to Armchair. She is a day one listener. I remember the first episode we listened to was, your first meeting with Michael Paulin, it was fascinating. And I became hurt ever since. So you're our road trip buddies, our blonde commute buddies, weekends, up to the mountains buddies. So we're with you guys all the time. - Hello, this is a small ass bottle. - Yeah, let's get, I want to get a good look at you. Yeah, great hair everybody. - Thank you. - And great teeth in this field. - And overalls. - And when did you start skiing? - Well, I skied when I was 14 and then started snowboarding a couple of years later. And it was crazy that she dated a snowboarder 'cause everyone's like, it's very incestuous and they all date each other. But then I broke the mold. And now I'm skiing again 'cause we have kids at it sucks. - I switched two years ago from snowboarding after 40 years of it back to skiing. It's so much easier. - It is, sorry Alex. - Not to be great. It's like you're not fucking unstrapping and strapping back in. You can be on flat ground, you don't care. - Yeah, it hurts a lot less. And it's easier on our aging bodies. - Yeah, well it's so nice meeting you guys. - It's nice to meet both of you. - Yeah, as well. This has been so fun. Thanks for sharing the time. And Dax, your chair looks a lot more comfortable than I pictured. - People get worried 'cause it's not a proper lazy boy, but it's plenty comfortable. - Mine's only okay if I'm being honest. - Okay. - I could add a little cushion back here. - A little cushion. - Yeah, a little cushion. - All right, y'all, we'll have a great summer up there. I hope it's a beautiful one for you. - Thank you so much. - Thank you so much. - Thank you. - Okay, take care. - Okay, well, that was wild. - Love you, that was wild in Cardi. - Do you wanna sing a tune or something? I'm gonna have a theme song. - Okay, great. ♪ We don't have a thing ♪ ♪ So for this new show ♪ ♪ So here I go, go, go ♪ ♪ We're gonna add some random questions ♪ ♪ And with the help of our cherries ♪ ♪ We'll get some suggestions ♪ ♪ On the fire rhyme dish ♪ ♪ On the fire rhyme dish, enjoy ♪