Oct 2 Monday Check-In: Transcript
Doug is back from the woods, and Magda is in the weeds.
Doug French (00:05.866)
All right, so how's your morning?
Magda Pecsenye (00:08.537)
I've just completely hit the wall. The wedding is in seven days, six days, however many that is. It's next Sunday. And I woke up this morning and just couldn't. I think I've made too many decisions, checked too many things off the list, all of that kind of stuff.
Doug French (00:30.722)
What kind of decisions?
Magda Pecsenye (00:32.301)
Oh, like all kinds of stuff, right? Like shoes, like buying Spanx, like helping Mike's kids find clothes to wear for the event and figure out how to do their hair and figure out how to do my hair. And I coordinated our kid going to pick me up something that I needed that was available at the mall in Ann Arbor, but not available out here in Massachusetts so that you guys could bring it to me.
Doug French (01:03.862)
Yeah, he got it.
Magda Pecsenye (01:25.929)
And just like all kinds of stuff, just like all kinds of little details. Also my wedding ring is allegedly arriving by FedEx today. We are leaving to go out to my parents where the wedding is going to be on Wednesday morning. So you know, like it better get here. All this kind of stuff. I'm just tired of thinking of things.
Doug French (01:29.326)
Well, now do you have like what, I mean, do they still call them maids of honor? Do you have someone like that?
Magda Pecsenye (01:35.126)
Uh-uh. You, Doug, you are my maid of honor. No. Seriously though, no, my brother and my brother.
Doug French (01:45.534)
I don't wanna outshine the bride though in my outfit. I want, you know, it's, you have to be the focus of attention.
Magda Pecsenye (01:50.621)
Right. My brother and sister-in-law are standing up for me and our children are walking me down the aisle and then going to stand up next to them. And that's it.
Doug French (02:11.134)
Who handled this when we got married?
Magda Pecsenye (02:16.705)
Who handled what?
Doug French (02:26.678)
Who handled all these decisions that you're making now when we got married?
Magda Pecsenye (02:30.025)
Me and my mother. My mom doesn't have any control over this wedding at all. Like she's not paying for it, none of that. And she hasn't been part of all of the decisions. So there's the little breakfast the morning after she's hosting that and she's making decisions about that, but not the actual wedding. So.
Doug French (03:20.222)
All right. Well let me ask you this. So did you panic like this before our wedding?
Magda Pecsenye (03:27.497)
No, because I knew inherently that I was making the wrong decision. So there was nothing to do but just go forward.
Doug French (03:32.895)
Ha! Well see, this is my point, okay? I mean, if you're panicking now, isn't that a good sign?
Magda Pecsenye (03:42.277)
Maybe, but that doesn't mean that it's helping me get anything done today. You know what I mean? Like, I just am tapped out. And the Duggar book, the Jill Duggar book, rolled up in my Libby last night. I was like, oh, I wasn't, you know, I got on the hold line for this and they were like 20-plus weeks, right? And so I wasn't expecting to get this book for two more months and here it popped up and I'm at like 60% on the book. Oh my gosh, you want to talk about people having problems. Wow. So anyway, yeah, you know, it's just I've been thinking about too many things. It's not panic. It's just, I cannot think anymore.
Doug French (04:31.618)
All right, well that should be a relief then, right? Just kind of, now you're on autopilot.
Magda Pecsenye (04:34.121)
Well, yeah, but then, you know, right after you and I stop recording this, I am going to Hungarian class. And that's the hardest I ever think ever is about how to say things in Hungarian.
Doug French (04:48.046)
Well, that's also a good sign, right? You're not bailing on Hungarian class. There must be a few synapses left that can function.
Magda Pecsenye (04:56.813)
Well, I guess. We'll see how I do. I mean, I don't know if I can produce any Hungarian today.
Doug French (05:05.15)
Well, I'll tell you, if you really need a break, can I recommend going to Colorado when sleeping outdoors for eight days?
Magda Pecsenye (05:12.341)
How did that go? Were you really outside the whole time?
Doug French (05:17.622)
Yeah, well the first night I was outside. Yeah, we were at Crooked Top Mountain and it got down to about 35 degrees. And so from then on I used the tent. Plus I'm just not used to being confined in a little tube to have to stay warm. I also realized I needed a bit more padding on the ground than I had. Robert gave me his little pad and he slept on a cardboard box.
Magda Pecsenye (06:28.909)
What? How does he do this?
Doug French (06:32.59)
He's just happy as hell. He really enjoyed it. We set a fire, we sat up drinking bourbon and talking and he had a little tent that I used the rest of the time and he slept outdoors. We must have covered about 1,400 miles, and every campsite was at the end of a super gnarly, 30-mile driveway, straight up. But once you get there, it’s just breathtaking. And there's no service. And it's just you and your son and your thoughts. And I'm telling you, that's the way it should be. I kind of want to get rid of my wifi. I kind of want to chuck my television. That's, I mean, I do want to camp more after this. I really think that heading out for just 48 hours and nothing, and I mean nothing, just your thoughts and maybe a book. That's the way to go.
Magda Pecsenye (08:00.193)
Well good, that sounds cool. I'm glad you went on that trip.
Doug French (08:03.542)
But let me tell you what your son's face looks like when he's heading down that same road, when it's time to come off the mountain and get some coffee. Oh my god. His truck has two handles to hang onto and I use both. I look over, he's like, he's cruising down. It's like a 20 degree grade and this rutted, bumpy road, which you know, no one ever pays any attention to. It's just been sculpted by water running down and over the centuries. And I look over at him and his eyes are as big as hard-boiled eggs.
Magda Pecsenye (08:44.237)
Oh, that's funny. That's funny.
Doug French (08:46.69)
So, but we talked about a lot of interesting things. And I think a lot of the stuff I confronted, because you mentioned panic, I saw your Facebook post about, and again, cognitive decline, and I mean, well, I'm in cognitive decline too. Well, I'm in decline, you're in fatigue, yeah.
Magda Pecsenye (09:01.057)
Cognitive fatigue. I mean when yeah, my friend Joe was like this sounds like cognitive fatigue not panic and I'm like, yes. That's it. It's not panic. It's just I can't think about anything. I'm tapped out
Doug French (09:16.854)
Well, I realized that I've been using a lot of external stimulus to keep my mind distracted from what I need to think about.
Magda Pecsenye (09:25.418)
Yeah, I get that.
Doug French (09:26.526)
And I spent a week without it and wow, it's like, it's like coming off drugs. If I ever knew what it was like to come off drugs. Because that is my drug is watching stuff and keeping my brain occupied with something else. And it's, uh, it's an amazing discovery when you don't have that. And you have to confront certain things and talk to yourself. And, uh, and it's weird too, because when you're, you know, 10,000 feet up and you're short of breath, you're like, okay, is this a panic attack or am I just not breathing well?
Magda Pecsenye (10:03.593)
Right. Yeah, I mean, I think that's part of why I don't like being at altitude. Like I sort of feel like I just can't breathe ever. Yeah.
Doug French (10:14.982)
Right. Well, I adjusted to that okay, but I've already decided I'm going to go off and be a math teacher in this tiny town with mountains all over the place. It's basically, it's Northern Exposure is what it is, this town. And even the people I met in this town are just like the characters. They're like people who've fled the big city to come to establish a different lifestyle.
Magda Pecsenye (10:48.269)
I think that's cool. I'm glad you got that opportunity to do that.
Doug French (10:54.154)
That's the silver lining too, right? I mean, we lamented the fact that I wasn't able to drive to Colorado initially when Robert got the truck because he had to wait the extra week for the title and everything, but because that happened, I got nine days in the woods–and the desert–for my birthday.
Magda Pecsenye (11:17.001)
That's cool. That's very cool.
Doug French (11:18.666)
Yeah, and you'll see the pictures. We parked, we camped on the side of a canyon.
Magda Pecsenye (11:23.894)
Wow.
Doug French (11:25.43)
Seriously, you wake up and it's a, how many thousand feet drop.
Doug French (11:46.242)
Are you done? It sounds like you're kind of you're over this too.
Magda Pecsenye (11:50.453)
Yeah, I'm over this too.
Doug French (11:53.73)
Well, here's the thing. I, right. And we can't check in next week, right? Because that's the day after your wedding and that's dumb.
Magda Pecsenye (12:02.089)
Right, well I mean we could check in, but then we'd have to record and then post it and you're gonna be driving back from my wedding that day.
Doug French (12:10.718)
Yes, I'll be on the road for nine hours. Yeah. So I mean, we'll see how these check-ins go from now on. We might have to merge these two into the Wednesday offering just because I'm getting too busy and I think you are too.
Magda Pecsenye (12:18.059)
Right.
Magda Pecsenye (12:22.569)
Yeah, that's true.
Doug French (12:24.851)
It's kind of cool how people hear your voice and think, you know, they offer you work. So what last concerns do you have? I think eventually it's just going to be family and friends and people who love you. So what's the problem?
Magda Pecsenye (12:43.701)
Hey, I mean, well, okay, here's the thing. Everybody keeps asking me, oh, what are you worried about? It's not that I'm worried about anything. I can't make any more decisions. That's the thing. Like, just too many things to think about and I need to not think about it. So I need people to stop asking me what is the issue.
Doug French (13:01.33)
Well, I can do that. Well, here's the better question to ask you then, right? What can I do for you? How can I take a load off of you somehow, apart from holding the camera? Since I'm your maid of honor after all.
Magda Pecsenye (13:37.637)
Um, well, okay, so here's the thing. Can you run the music? We're going to have three playlists. One is going to have the music for the ceremony. One is going to have the music for the intercalary thing while everybody's having their photo taken and we're flipping the room from the ceremony to the reception. Right? We just want to have some background music. And then there's going to be a playlist for the reception that's going to have to be advanced intermittently. Like, because we're coming back, we're going to have toasts and then people are going to start having dinner and we're going to have a little bit of music in the background for that. And then they're going to be the first dance songs. And then they're going to be just other music for people to dance. We'll turn off the music when the cake gets cut, turn back on the music.
Doug French (14:47.19)
Wait, you want me to be the deejay for the entire reception?
Magda Pecsenye (14:50.165)
All you have to do is hit play and then pause and then play and then pause on the playlists.
Doug French (14:54.654)
Right. Well, if I'm working this wedding, that's fine. But that deserves a free room.
Magda Pecsenye (15:05.845)
<laughs> Okay, I'll see if I can find you a free room. The other people who are working are not getting free rooms by the way. Just so you know. Oh well, that's Jonathan, our officiant, is getting a free room, but Katherine is not.
Doug French (15:33.59)
Who is she?
Magda Pecsenye (15:35.309)
She's a friend of mine from Bryn Mawr.
Doug French (15:38.472)
Oh, so she's your maid of honor!
Magda Pecsenye (15:40.345)
No she’s not. She’s the stage manager!
Doug French (15:38.472)
Ha! Same deal, she'll have a headset on and all that stuff.
Magda Pecsenye (15:48.085)
We don't have a headset!
Doug French (15:53.898)
I imagine we're going to have a point where we're going to rehearse all this, right?
Magda Pecsenye (15:59.069)
Yeah, it's gonna, the rehearsal is gonna be some time on Sunday, probably around 2 p.m.
Doug French (16:12.423)
Well again, if I can check on the room for you, if I can take anything off your plate for that, let me know.
Magda Pecsenye (16:35.437)
Great. Okay.
Doug French (16:37.97)
So yeah. I'm in cognitive decline, not in cognitive … whatever you said.
Magda Pecsenye (16:56.697)
Complete cognitive meltdown. Wah, wah, wah.
Doug French (16:59.31)
Yes. I don't remember words anymore, so I'm fine. All right, what else you got before we sign off?
Magda Pecsenye (18:22.093)
Um, not a whole lot.
Doug French (18:23.874)
I mean, you'd rather read about Duggars than plan your own wedding. This is DEFCON 4.
Magda Pecsenye (18:30.357)
Well, I've been planning my own wedding for months and months and months and months and months. I'm done with it.
Doug French (18:37.603)
Good.
Magda Pecsenye (18:38.675)
Tired of it.
Doug French (18:40.99)
That's all that matters. And you'll that way you can just kind of just slide into the rest of it from here on out, just rip out your sled and down you go.
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