Episode #1 - Felicia McNiff

Austin: Hey everyone, welcome to Authenticity Loading. I'm your host Austin Canfield. We're a new podcast that's all about original stories from Northern California and beyond. I'm here with Felicia McNiff from Sacramento. Thank you so much for joining us and being one of our first guests on the show. How are you doing today?

Felicia: I'm doing great. I'm always doing great, most of the time.

Austin: Something I'd love to open with on the show is to ask, what's your favorite thing about Northern California? And for you, what would that be?

Felicia: And I've been all up and down it, too. I've lived in Eureka. I've worked in Trinidad. I've been all the way up there. And then you go over there and then you're in Oregon. The whole coastal part is amazing. Northern California. If you're driving up that 101, you will wreck your car just staring outside at the ocean and all the beauty that's out there. Northern California is amazing. And then even though it's, you know, I don't know is Sacramento Northern California?

Austin: Yeah, definitely.

Felicia: I think this is a central valley sort of. It's sort of, you know, at the end of the valley, but Sacramento is a wonderful part of it as well. And it's the rivers that make it in my opinion.

Austin: So, would you say that the California coast is sort of your favorite part?

Felicia: It's pretty darn good. I am more of a river girl than, well, Sacramento River rat, than an ocean girl, but you know, it's all beautiful.

Austin: I've actually never been to the Eureka area. Could you tell me more about that?

Felicia: It's cold and it's dramatic. There's ocean and then there's redwoods and once in a while it'll snow and you'll have snow on the beach and that's really something.

Austin: Wow, snow on the beach. I've never seen that.

Felicia: That's really something. And the people are warm and it's sort of the wild west of self-expression. You can really be whoever you want out there and there's a really tight community that supports all manner of diversity. And there's also a lot of crafting because the weather gets cold, it starts raining, it's foggy. They say if you don't go out in the rain in Eureka, you don't go out. And then there's a lot of fishing. You can get fresh crab out there and tuna and salmon. And like I said, the crafting is a big deal. There's lots of craft fairs, lots of pottery and felting and sewing and people making cute aprons and just all kinds of whatnot.

Austin: One of my favorite quotes is there's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing.

Felicia: You're right about that. You know, that's just like the right tool for the job. You don't always want to use a butter knife. You could get a screwdriver. So, you need a lot of coats. When you live in Sacramento, coats are sort of optional. You can have a jacket in Sacramento. You can get by with a jacket. You have a you buy a coat if you're going to Tahoe or you're going to San Francisco. Sacramento is so, you know, at night time it's been getting cold, but during the day when you want to do stuff, a jacket's really all you need. But up there up north it's really, really cold. And I had several coats. When I moved up there, I was up there for eight years and it took four years to get used to the cold. I was not ready for it and I was not born for it for sure.

Austin: What first took you up there?

Felicia: Oh, my husband at the time got a job opportunity. He worked for the phone company here in Sacramento and he got an opportunity to manage a yard up there near Humboldt Hill and so he worked there and then I got a job out there at a local jewelry store after a while. I didn't need to right away, but I got one after a while. You know, I had to go back and forth from Sacramento there every weekend to look for a house to live in. And then we finally found one and I said, "All right, let's go." And we loaded up everything and that was the furthest move I've ever done personally for myself. So that was a long a long way.

Austin: Would you consider Sacramento your original hometown?

Felicia: Oh, absolutely. I was born in the Bay, but we didn't stay out there very long. I've lived in the Rio Linda area. I've lived downtown, which is the best. If you're gonna live in Sacramento, live downtown. Everything else is just sprawl. It's really, really far-flung. So, it's nice to live in downtown because then you're near all the places that you need to go to if you need to do stuff.

Austin: Is downtown kind of where you are these days?

Felicia: I live in Natomas. But I live on a the southern edge of Natomas, which is really close to Discovery Park. So, it's 10 minutes from downtown.

Austin: Oh, yeah. Discovery Park. That's where they have the Aftershock Festival.

Felicia: Yes. And you know, I found out some years ago that part of it's Discovery Park and part of it is called Tiscornia and I had no idea.

Austin: Oh, what's Tiscornia? I've never heard that either.

Felicia: I know. Isn't that weird? I looked it up and it is on a map and there's a story behind it that I used to know but I don't remember now. Anybody can look it up, but yeah it’s called Tiscornia Park.

Austin: Oh, neat.

Felicia: Yeah. I lived in West Sacramento most of my life. I had most of my birthday parties in that park and I never knew that. So that was always fun to learn a new thing about an old place.

Austin: So when people say Natomas I've heard there's like a north and a south Natomas. Can you explain kind of what the difference is?

Felicia: Well south is old. North is new.

Austin: Got it.

Felicia: Because between the old part where I am and Rio Linda, there was nothing at all for a very long time. You could even drive the Levy Road from Del Paso Road. You could drive the Levy Road for a fun and dangerous shortcut into Rio Linda, but you can't do that now. And there's a lot of new houses and new neighborhoods. They're a lot like, you know, there's mostly like HOA style and condos and things like that and they're all beige and not to be like that, but it's kind of hideous. You know, I don't want to yuck anybody's yum when it comes to houses, food, or people, but you know, we need houses.

Austin: That's how they build them.

Felicia: Absolutely. That's how they build them.

Austin: I actually lived up in North Natomas for a little while. I had some roommates up there and I remember somebody moved into a house on the block and they painted the house from beige to brown and it was just the community uproar.

Felicia: Oh my god. Think for thinking for yourself. Stop that. We don't want that around here.

Austin: But it it was nice though. We lived along where like the greenway in the park is where can you go out and go for a run and they had the Natomas Jibe bus so I could take that down to the Amtrak station downtown. And I used to work in Davis so if I didn't drive that was that was a good alternate commute.

Felicia: Amtrak is a nice ride. Sometimes if I'm going to San Francisco or I'm going to Oakland, I don't feel like driving cuz they're having some kind of big weekend out there because often there's some kind of big weekend thing in both of those cities, just take the train and Uber to where I'm going to go.

Austin: Yeah.

Felicia: It's just a lot less headache and you can have a little cocktail on the train on your way and it's, you know, it's pleasant.

Austin: Yeah. So, do you feel like living in Sacramento has shaped sort of part of who you are?

Felicia: Oh, absolutely. I am a Sacramento girl. I'm a river rat. I like to go see the river cats or I used to once in a while. Now it's the A's which is blowing my mind.

Austin: I know!

Felicia: My uncle would be spinning in his grave right now if he knew the A's were in Sacramento. He I don't think he'd be able to cope. That might have killed him.

Austin: I know it's temporary, but yeah, I thought the same thing. It's like, wow, the Oakland A's are now the Sacramento A's for a little while.

Felicia: Yeah. And there's a lot of talk in Oakland because I was living in Oakland when it happened.

Austin: Oh, yeah?

Felicia: Cuz there's a lot of talk about how Oakland is, you know, selling everything they have and it's getting poorer and poorer out there. I could tell you about Oakland if you ever wanted to know about that because I lived up there for a couple of years and it's one of my favorite places, but it's really really gritty.

Austin: Mhm. I kind of like the gritty though. I have some family that live in Oakland and they live in a little bit of a nicer part.

Felicia: Up in the hills?

Austin: Kind of. Yeah. I mean, it's nice though to walk around like Merit and you know, it's different culture.

Felicia: It's very beautiful. And they’ve got some good sushi out there.

Austin: Definitely.

Felicia: Man, they got good sushi out there.

Austin: We love all of the like Asian grocery stores and everything. And people say they like the Costco in Oakland because it's more of the Asian Costco, I guess.

Felicia: It is. It's interesting. It's sort of like even if you don't buy anything, you're walking around in there and it’s sort of an eye opener.

Austin: Yeah.

Felicia: You know, there used to be an Asian grocery store over there by Land Park and I would take my kids to it and it had live fish and lobsters and they liked to go look at the live fish just like a little free zoo. They like to look at the fish and the lobsters and the clams and poke them and, you know, do kids things. Do what kids do. We'd look at ingredients.

Austin: Yeah. Sacramento actually has quite a lot of good Asian markets. Was that the SF market that used to be there in in Land Park, the Shun Fat?

Felicia: Yeah, yeah.

Austin: They have a couple of them. I guess it's like a regional chain of grocery stores. So, it's really neat. I love all the different ethnic grocery stores that they have around Sacramento.

Felicia: Yeah, there's a real good one that's a Thai one and you can get fresh hot Thai sausages and purple rice packaged there and they're ready to eat and they're delicious. Thai sausage has lemongrass in it. It's wonderful.

Austin: That sounds amazing.

Felicia: Oh my god. Try that. You definitely should. I'll tell you where it is when this is over.

Austin: So, I'm curious when someone asks you who you are as Felicia, what are some parts of your life that you tend to mention first?

Felicia: Well, you know, that's interesting because I've lived kind of a long time now and it's hard to, gosh, no one's ever asked me who I was. I was just talking about that yesterday or this morning. I was talking about how when I like somebody and I decide I want them to be my friend, I will pursue them relentlessly until they are. And all of my friends will tell you that because most of my friends are people who don't want friends. It's like an exclusive club and I like one-on-one friendships quite a lot and so I seek people out who are sort of introverted and just I don't know I just choose people like that. They're really fun. And also I do a lot of cooking. You know, some of my identity is what I was doing for a living, which was line cook. And I do a lot of housewife things. I've been married a couple of times. I can make really good sandwiches. But I'm with somebody right now who's really nice and he makes me breakfast and he makes my coffee and he brings me my meds in the morning, you know, for my blood pressure and whatnot. And so I'm receiving service now that I used to just give for years and years and years. You know, when you have kids, you know, over time you're making a thousand cupcakes.

Austin: Yeah.

Felicia: You got all these pizza parties, you've got soda, and you've got PTA, and you've got whatever they need. Thousands and thousands of dollars, and all of your time. All of your time. So, I guess I'm just like I'm a nurturer. I like to I believe there's nobility in service and service workers. That's a sort of nobility. I really like the way it's portrayed in English shows like Downton Abbey and Upstairs where they give you the story of the downstairs people, the invisible people who you just say anything in front of. Are you kidding me? They just say anything in front of them like they're made of totem poles and like they don't remember and think about it and because they have to gauge the behavior of their employer to to see, geez they're in a spot right now I have to make this work because I don't want to be out of the job. You know in case it's a financial issue or some kind of staffing issue and they're like oh I got to save my job so they start stabbing each other in the back so that someone else gets fired and I guess life is like that. But I just think there's a lot of nobility in service and you don't need recognition for that. Goodness is its own own reward.

Austin: Yeah, servant leadership, absolutely.

Felicia: Yeah. I believe goodness is its own reward. You give and you don't think about it later. You just keep giving and then good things happen to you from peripheral areas and you're taken care of in that way.

Austin: Totally.

Felicia: Yeah. I think that's a great way to look at life in general.

Austin: I'm curious. If you could make anything that you wanted to cook, what would it be?

Felicia: Well, this morning I was looking at these cookies that look really, really good. A Swedish princess cake.

Austin: Oh, yes, absolutely!

Felicia: Someone's making miniatures in cookie form.

Austin: I have to look at that.

Felicia: I'll send you the link. Oh, I almost had a heart attack this morning looking at it. I'm like, "Oh my god, I gonna make that. That looks so good." They're so beautiful with the with the green marzipan over the top and the little rosette. It's just like that's probably going to be Christmas for me this year. Tins and the best looking cookies I can make for my friends and family.

Austin: Love it. My husband and I like going to the Ettore’s Bakery on Fair Oaks. They always have the most beautiful princess cakes. And of course, lots of other cakes and we say, "Should we indulge? Should we go get a slice of princess cake?"

Felicia: Oh, don't twist my arm! Should we? I think that's wonderful. I was just looking at those this morning and there was a little place. Oh, yeah. Estelle's over there on K Street. They have a few nice looking things. I don't think they have princess cake, but I have to go to Ettore’s. I kind of feel like I need to eat one so that I can understand what they're supposed to be like.

Austin: Yeah.

Felicia: You know, it's quality assurance for a future project, right?

Austin: Yeah, definitely. So, I'm curious what a good day in your typical life would look like.

Felicia: I love feeling good in the morning. Once in a while, I feel good in the morning and I don't have anything to do and so I just run around with my partner and he's very special. He's the only straight man I know that likes antiquing. He loves antiquing. He actually goes and looks for things that he likes on his own. like he's not just following me around carrying my purse. He's looking around and he's buying things that he's interested in. The last thing he bought was these really cool wood blocks for printing on sarees that he got at this the one on 21st and X, the antique shop over there.

Austin: Oh yeah, I've seen that. We've wanted to go in so many times.

Felicia: No, you must. The same guys have been owning it for ever and they have a beautiful assortment and that's my shop. I go in there. I've bought several things. And so he goes in there and he buys things. We look at jewelry together. He likes jewelry. I like jewelry. And we go out and have a nice lunch somewhere. We do a nature walk. I love all that. I love walking around in Ancil Hoffman Park.

Austin: Yeah,

Felicia: I love walking around Discovery Park. I have a lot of memories in that park. A lot of memories. In fact, one is really weird. I was with somebody, my ex-husband now, but we we had actually met in 1986 and we were over there sitting on a rock. I'm looking at the water and a pigeon flew off of the top of the bridge and landed in the water and swam over to us. I’ve never seen anything like that before. I'm like, "What's wrong with that pigeon?" He said, "I don't know." And so we helped it get out of the water and we put it on a table and watched it dry out. And he was teasing me about the pidgeon and he's like let's kill it. And I said no cuz I was 15. I'm like no. And we were just laughing and talking and everything and then it just you know, left. But when does that ever happen? When does a bird just jump in the water and swim over to you? It was kind of a nice day. But yeah, a nice day for me is just like going out to breakfast or lunch. And I don't really like going out to dinner because I'm too tired afterward. I like a nice lunch. Sushi. Sushi is the number one. I do like Vietnamese food. And my boyfriend really likes Mediterranean. Oh man, falafel and you know gyro and schwarma and all that. He likes that kind of stuff. So, we eat that a lot.

Austin: We actually just checked out a new sushi place over in South Sac by Cosumnes River last night and they had these sushi nachos, which I had never heard of before and we were so curious. But they were so good. It was like if you took the seaweed, like the thing that you roll the sushi rolls with, but larger in like a chip form and then I guess it was like deep fried like tempura on top and then like the sushi poke. It was it was the best. I would highly recommend it. It was over by like where the Foods Co is. I forget what the name is.

Felicia: Was it sort of like that seaweed snack where like it's kind of like it's a crispy seaweed and it they come in bags and they have a little tempura on them.

Austin: Yes, yes. That was kind of like the base. Yeah. They put the sushi on top. It was something to try for sure.

Felicia: That sounds wonderful. Over there on R Street and 16th there's a restaurant there that does a poke nacho.

Austin: Oh yeah?

Felicia: And it's delicious. It's basically fried wontons and they make this tower. They make a tower and they put you know the sauces and the poke tuna but they they mess with you man. They put tomatoes on there and it looks like tuna but it's not. And then you take a bite and you're like I didn't want a tomato so you have to ask for it with no tomatoes and extra tuna. Then you get a good meal.

Austin: That's a good way to do it.

Felicia: I just ate at the new one that used to be the Capitol Aquarium. a new sushi place. They had a soft opening. They have a very nice, you know that grilled tuna, that's like nice and yeah, they have that and they give you quite a good amount and their sushi rolls are very nice. Something to try for sure.

Austin: There's so many restaurants I feel like in this area that by the time you tried them all you would never be able to try everything because there's so many and so many new openings.

Felicia: And some of them come and go like lightning and they're just not here anymore. And then you're like, I didn't get to try that.

Austin: So, there was this one place downtown, I think it was on T Street, maybe. It was called South and it was only there for like I don't even know if it was there for a year, but they had the best chicken sandwiches and I'm from the South, so I really enjoyed someone bringing like the southern comfort food style to Sacramento. It was great while it lasted.

Austin: I do like some fried chicken. I sure do. Yum. I like southern food as well. Yeah, I used to have a restaurant up north actually. I had a restaurant called Estie's Bistro like and I had a little radio spot “bring your bestie to Estie’s” and I had a little board up where people could take a picture of them and I could hang it up of them and their bestie and it was a cute little spot. I didn't make it through [untranscribed] because it was so new but it was great and I did biscuits and gravy and you know proper breakfast like that and chicken sandwiches I do fried chicken sandwiches and stuff.

Austin: So, I'm curious, how did that come about, opening your own restaurant?

Felicia: Well, I had been working at the Trinidad Bay Eatery for about five years and every time I had an idea, my boss would be like, "That's stupid." I'm like, "Man, man!” you know, I wanted do my own thing. And then the time came where there was an opportunity and an empty building that already had some equipment in it. Boy, was that expensive to even just get it started. But up there, it's a lot easier because Eureka is so small. It takes 10 minutes to get all the way across the town. And so the courthouse and all that, there's never any lines in any of these buildings to get the permits and things you need. It's all real chill. And the guy wasn't charging me any rent. So, because it was in a building that he already owned and was getting paid an astronomical amount of money for anyway, he's like, "I just want free food when I come here." I'm like, "All right, I can definitely do that." And so, I had coffee and I had sandwiches and soups. I always had like four soups going and I had specials and burritos and sandwiches and Mediterranean food. I had a gyro and a salad and, you know, all that kind of stuff. And I had two employees and we did a couple of caterings for the county because it was a county building. They had child welfare and child support and stuff like that in the same building and those were my customers. And so when [untranscribed] happened, my husband was actually working there. He had transferred from the phone company to working for child welfare and he said, "I am so sorry, honey. It's my job to send everybody home." But it was great while it lasted. Yeah. And I would wake up in the morning and go, "Self, what's so special today?" I say, "Why don't we try this?" And I go, "That sounds great. Let's do it." And I would tell my guy, "We're doing this today." And he'd go, "Okay, boss." There's nothing like, "Okay, boss." I love that. So, it was great for a while. We had a really good time and got to be creative and inventive and I got to make some birthday cakes for some of the people that would come in. They would say, "Oh, can you make a cake? It's my boss's birthday today." and sure I'll make this, I'll make that. So, we did.

Austin: Yeah. I'm happy that you had a place and a space that you could have like the sort of creative freedom to do that.

Felicia: Boy, it was not like anything. And now I'm in trouble cuz it's so hard to hold a regular job once you've been a boss.

Austin: Yeah, I can see that for sure. You have to go back to yes, sir, yes, ma’am.

Felicia: I just lost a job. I was living down here and the eatery called me over the summer. They're like hey can you help us out? We're having some staffing issues. So I went up and lived in Trinidad for three months. Well my boyfriend was like wow you know when are you coming home? I would come home sometimes but I was living up there for a while and working for them. And then when that job was over, which was October 31st, she's like, "Okay, great. Thanks for getting us through the summer." She gave me a nice bonus. It was sweet. It was a good job. It has good pay and good tips. So, um, I tried to secure something for when I got home and I did. I secured a job in a place and, I was working as hard as I could. I was working really hard and I was trying to learn really fast and I had only been there two weeks. They let me go and I wasn't doing anything wrong. I don't actually know what the issue was. They were going in a different direction. I don't know what that means in job lingo, but that's what they said. And they didn't give me a real excuse that I could like bite into and say, "Well, can we talk about it?" I got no coachings. I got no meetings. In fact, the day before I was like, "Hey, do you want to check in? Do you want to talk about how this is going?" Because they hired me as a shift supervisor. And I thought maybe, you know, every week we were going to have a little meeting and say, "Well, these are my findings. How can we improve? What are we doing that's right?” You know, and how can we make this better or faster or more efficient? But no, they never ever talked to me after I got hired. And then they let me go and I don't know what happened.

Austin: Sounds like maybe you dodged a bullet.

Felicia: Who knows. Yeah. Nobody there seemed very happy and there was cameras everywhere. I think they were listening and nobody talked ever. So I'm like, "Hey, how's everybody doing?" I would just start talking and they're like, shush, that seems strange. Like this doesn't seem like a real free environment and everyone seemed pretty upset. So anyway, that was that.

Austin: Life is life. What can you do?

Felicia: Life is life.

Austin: So I'm curious outside of work and cooking, what are some other hobbies or passions or interests that you have that kind of shape who you are as a person?

Felicia: Well, I used to do I used to make a lot of things. I used to do some art. I don't really do that anymore. My hands hurt. I've got osteoarthritis now. I had it show up on a recent MRI. So, I'm only 54. That seems terribly unfair. But I used to like to do a lot of things with my hands and now I just do a lot of like couch rotting and but I do like travel and we did travel quite a bit recently. We did four weeks in the UK. Before that we went to Iceland which I highly recommend. I could die in Iceland. That place is amazing.

Austin: What was your favorite thing about Iceland?

Felicia: The Yule Cat. They have a Yule cat. They put up this giant black metal cat. It's got to be 30 feet tall in the square for Christmas. It's got sharp fangs and sharp claws and glowing eyes. And the lore is if you don't get clothes for Christmas, the Yule cat will eat you because you might as well be dead in Iceland if you don't have clothes. You might as well just die because it's cold. And they've got Grimm sort of fairy tale characters that cook children in cauldrons and they had those displayed out and everything. It's a very metal kind of place. And the volcano, the volcano was going off in the distance from the airport and I could see it on the Uber ride. I'm like, "Oh my god, that volcano is doing it right now." I've never seen that before in person and I wasn't that close to it, but it was still happening. And it was exciting. And they have the Aurora Borealis. People are really nice. They're not friendly, but they're cordial.

Austin: Yeah.

Felicia: And some of them are friendlier than others, but their humor is unbelievable. I couldn't get any of their jokes. And I think I know what's funny, but I even picked up a joke book in the store and I'm reading it. I don't understand why these are funny. So that was great. There's lots of good shops. The whole place Reykjavik looks like a whole gingerbread village. It's a beautiful thing.

Austin: That's really neat.

Felicia: All of the outsides of the buildings are made from corrugated metal. All painted different colors of like dark green and dark blue and dark red. There's not really any pastel stuff out there. It's all just dark colors. And the pond was frozen over where we were and there were people ice skating out there. And there it’s somebody's job to keep a portion of the pond thawed out so swans don't freeze because they're swans.

Austin: Yeah.

Felicia: And there aren't any cops. I didn't see a Mounty. I didn't see a walking one. I didn't see a cop car. I think like if something bad happens, you can call somebody. But everyone out there just knows how to act right.

Austin: At least that's a good thing.

Felicia: Yeah. There's like no police. I'm like, where's the cops out here? There aren't any.

Austin: Maybe they're not friendly, but at least they behave themselves.

Felicia: Yeah, they just like I don't know. There's there's a very a high level of comfort. You don't have to pay for heat or water.

Austin: Oh, wow.

Felicia: Or hot water because it's provided by the infrastructure coming from the volcano.

Austin: Interesting. I never knew that.

Felicia: Yeah, that's so cool. Well, the apartment we stayed in had a heated bathroom floor. It had a radiator in every single room, even the kitchen.

Austin: That is one thing I love about Europe. They love putting in the heated floors.

Felicia: Yes, I do like the heated floor. That's just nice. Yeah, Iceland was very special. It was a wonderland. We went in winter time, so there was snow. And there was a soup restaurant that you could pay once and eat all the soup you want. And somebody in America, of course, holds a record for 19 bowls of soup. Their picture was on the wall.

Austin: That's a lot.

Felicia: I'm like, you American piggy embarrassing us over here. I think I had two servings. I'm like, I'm good.

Austin: You said you also went to the UK. Where are some places you visited while you were there?

Felicia: Well, we [also] went to Amsterdam and that was very unique. And we went to it was during the tulip festival. There were tulips everywhere. And also during King's Day, well, Queen's Day because their king has passed away. So, it was Queen's Day. And so, everybody was wearing orange when we got there. And the only orange thing I had was my Sublime sweatshirt and it was gray but it had an orange sun on it so I wore that. And they had King's Cakes, little Napoleons covered in orange icing in all the stores. And so Amsterdam was really nice. We were there for a while and then we went to London which I didn't care for as much. It was really, really crowded. It was like San Francisco gave birth to two more San Franciscos.

Austin: Yeah, if that's a good way to put it.

Felicia: It was really crowded there. But we went to Oxford and I'll tell you what, you just fall in love every time someone talks to you. The cab driver, their elocution is so spot-on. They have beautiful tone to the way they speak. And even the cab driver sounded like he was so cultured. It's Oxford. And we went to the colleges and got a tour because there's a show we like to watch called Morris and it's an English BBC show. It's got John Thaw in it and a lot of it's filmed in Oxford. Endeavor is also filmed in Oxford and Endeavor is the younger version of him in a different show. And so we got the Morse tour, it was so nerdy and we did the Midsummer Murders tour because I watch Midsummer Murders and that was in a town called Thame and it had this really old church and this cemetery around it and people were out there in the field beyond playing cricket and it's very idyllic. Oxford, very idyllic. And then as we go more north and get to York, York's like Sacramento, it's bustling and sort of upbeat and friendly and it has the Harry Potter shopping street in it.

Austin: Oh, really? Diagon Alley.

Felicia: And we did go down there and we saw all the Harry Potter merch. And somebody was selling Yorkshire pudding cones. They were making cones out of the Yorkshire puddings and just filling it with mashed potatoes and meat and stuff. It's great.

Austin: That sounds really good.

Felicia: Uhhuh.

Austin: I never knew that existed, so I have to look that up.

Felicia: I'll tell you what, if you make it up to Trinidad, there's a place in Trinidad called the Lighthouse and they make a mashed potato cone. It's very much like the Yorkshire cone, but it's more like an ice cream cone, but it's a savory one with rosemary in it.

Austin: Oh, that sounds really good.

Felicia: And they put mashed potatoes and gravy and brisket and bacon and cheese. So Lighthouse Trinidad, you must have one.

Austin: So would you say that you're kind of a foodie also when you travel?

Felicia: Oh, of course. I had to try everything. We ate everything inside. I ate the blood pudding. I ate the haggis. That was a little, I had to stop with the haggis. I had a bite. Tasted good. But about halfway through the middle of chewing it, I realized I shouldn't be eating it for some reason. It just gave me a feeling like you shouldn't be eating this and so I didn't.

Austin: That's like the sheep's head, right?

Felicia: It's, no, haggis is sheep lungs.

Austin: Oh.

Felicia: And they were kind of weird. They and every, okay, so everything's in a circle. The blood sausage, the blood pudding, the haggis, it all comes in like a cranberry sliced circle because they all come in a can. You just push them out and slice them just like the cranberry sauce. That's why they're always round. But the blood sausage was good and the pudding. And of course, I had the mushrooms and the beans and the bangers and the they have back bacon over there. They don't have streaky bacon, which means you get a very small sliver of fat on your bacon and most of it's meat. In fact, you can get English breakfast in Sacramento in several places and they import that special bacon.

Austin: Do you have a favorite?

Felicia: Um, no. I don't like anything here that they make over there. I'm just ruined for it.

Austin: You've already had the best.

Felicia: I've already had the best. We stayed and we went to Wales which if you go to Wales you got to go to Aberystwyth. It took me two weeks to learn how to say that so I'm going to say it again Aberystwyth. It was so great there. It was a beach town, a little idyllic beach community with a pier that goes out with a fancy restaurant at the end of the pier and there's ice cream and children and dogs and it's just very sweet little town. And they film a show we like to watch there called Hinterland. And so we were looking at all the landmarks that were in that show.

Austin: Oh yeah.

Felicia: Because they were in Aberystwyth and there's a castle there that a playground is built right next to and anybody can just go. They don't charge for it. It's just all overgrown and you can just run around in this castle. It's amazing. It's just wonderful. And it's just right next to a kid's playground. It's pretty cool. And they have shale jutting out of the beach, you know, shale?

Austin: Like the rock.

Felicia: Yeah. Right. And they build most of their roof tiles out of shale because they've got so much of it. So all the roof tiles are made of shiny rock just carved into these nice little Spanish style tiles. Well, not Spanish style because Spanish tiles are kind of like lumpy. But these are straight, but they're made of that. And on the beach, it's mostly shale rock, which has been smoothed over into millions of skipping stones.

Austin: Oh, neat.

Felicia: It's just It's just millions of perfect skipping stones.

Austin: It kind of reminds me of the glass beach up in Fort Bragg.

Felicia: It's quite a lot like that, but it's all shale rocks and just a dusting of sand here and there. There's not that much sand. There's mostly shale, but it's a really beautiful place. I really liked Wales and some of the Airbnbs we stayed in were just phenomenal and comfortable and there's a lot of sheep out there. And then after York we went to Newcastle and Newcastle was where the Geordie accent is. So you've got the culture accent in Oxford and then you've got the “how you doing mate,” you know, in Newcastle. So it's a totally different span of of people, attitudes, accents and foods across England. And of course I saw, you know, Buckingham Palace and I saw Albert Hall and oh yeah, you can cram it all in. And then of course, you know, we went to Scotland and I saw a great many things there. And then by the time we got to Sweden, we were just so burnt. We were so done by the time we got to Sweden that we just kind of cut it off a week early.

Austin: Yeah. That's a long trip to do all this.

Felicia: It was supposed to be five weeks, but we did four weeks. That was enough. If we weren't going to live there, that was enough.

Austin: Yeah.

Felicia: And I said, "Next time we go, we're not coming back because it's just too good."

Austin: So, how did you originally find your passion in travel?

Felicia: Because of my boyfriend. My husband before had told me that he wanted to travel and but we didn't end up doing it and then his mother got sick and he she's in Ireland and he went and saw her twice. I didn't get to go. I wasn't really sorry about it or anything because she was dying. She had leukemia and so he had to go see her. But I would have liked to have gone. I didn't go to Ireland on this trip because it was a like six hour ferry ride the opposite direction and like, we can't really fit it in. So we did Scotland instead.

Austin: You know the thing interesting I found out about Ireland is that if you have a layover there you can actually do the customs in Ireland so that when you get back to the United States you don't have to wait in the customs line. You can just, it's like a domestic flight. So I always recommend that for people traveling to Europe now. Fly Aer Lingus and lay over in Dublin if you can.

Felicia: Oh, yeah, that's really good advice. But yeah, half of his family still lives up there and he lives in Eureka. He lives where we used to live. We bought a duplex out there in King Salmon. And when we bought it, we weren't getting along that great anyway. We'd been together a long time. We were married for 18 years. And we bought the duplex and he's like, "This is great. We can rent out the other side." And I'm like, "Oh no, mister. You're living in this side and I'm living in that side." And he said, "Well, I don’t know how I feel about that?" And I said, "Well, that's what we're doing." And that's what we did. And it was actually very, it was just the medicine we needed at the time because we weren't getting along. And then we would hang out and he'd get [untranscribed]. I go, "Well, I'm going home now. I'll see you later. Call me when you're over it."

Austin: Yeah, out one door and in the other.

Felicia: And that gave me my power back. Cuz as a wife, I was a real pro. I was a domestic servant for sure, but it was self-imposed. I wanted to do those things and that was part of my identity. I'd always admired those Japanese girls, geishas, because they have to be educated and they have to be able to speak on all kinds of different subjects. They have to look good and they have to know what they're doing all the time for this job. And I always looked at my marriage as kind of like that kind of job. Just being that everything all the time. Everything everywhere all the time. It's kind of like what you know I was doing. I didn't mind.

Austin: Yeah.

Felicia: You know, it was like a personal accomplishment. Every time I acquired a new skill, it was like a personal betterment. Some people don't understand that. It's fun to learn new skills.

Austin: Yeah.

Felicia: And even if you're learning it, because you're, you know, taking care of your family, there's no shame in that. What's what's wrong with taking care of your family, right?

Austin: Yeah. Absolutely.

Felicia: When you think about some of the places that are in Northern California where you feel most yourself, what comes to mind?

Felicia: Well, Sacramento is my hometown. But my heart's in two places now because of living up in Eureka for so long. I'm definitely there, too. And when I go there, I could pick up my life if I wanted to. I could go there and live and pick up that job I was doing and just do that til I die. I know that restaurant inside and out and I know the people. And I used to work for them when it was the father of the woman that's running it now. She's doing it now and she's great. She's innovated the restaurant and she's brought on all kinds of new ideas that you know her father wasn't doing. He had a very simple but very good formula for his restaurant that kept people coming back all the time but now we have a different crowd. And I mean some of the local recipes that we've kept for the people that still come but then, for the people that are traveling, we have lots of really good specials and really exciting specials and an oyster bar and all kinds of fun things, adventurous things and I could just move there and live there and work there forever. I have a lot of friends up there still.

Austin: What are some things about that area like around Eureka that just feel right to you?

Felicia: I really love the Samoa Beach. And actually, not the beach. You’ve got to travel all the way down to the jetty, which is why I always wanted a little boat so that I could just go across the channel to across the bay to the jetty. But then there's the north side as well. Well, the north side is Samoa, the south side is Loleta. So there's two sides of this jetty and they both have like they're not lighthouses, but they're horns that call out boats because boats come in and out through the channel into the ocean all the time. And the air smells good there.

Austin: Yeah?

Felicia: The air smells really good. And I really like the forest and the trails and the dampness. Even though it's very, very cold, it's very refreshing and, you know, the crafting stuff and just being, you know, comfortable there. They have some good night life. They've got some cool underground scenes that are fun to, you know, play with sometimes. And I don't know. And, you know, he's my ex and you know that's another point. He's not really a he anymore. They've transitioned, now they're called Lisa instead of Sean. And that's been tough for me to get used to the name thing because I've known this person since 1986. And so I can call them Lisa all the time, but when I'm referring to them in the before time, it's called the before time. I always think of them as Sean. And that's another story. My current partner's name is Sean and I have two Sean tattoos for two different Seans.

Austin: Really? Was that just a twist of fate?

Felicia: I don't know, I don't learn. I don't learn. Okay. Sorry. Don't learn. Even the tattoo guy was like, "You already have a Sean tattoo." I said, "Yeah, but this is a different one." He rolled his eyes. I thought they were going to get stuck up there. He rolled them so high, but he did it.

Austin: That's an interesting story for sure.

Felicia: Well, thankfully, I met somebody recently who said their dad had two Jennifers. I'm like, "Yeah, we’ve got to join a, we’ve got to form a club of the two tattoos club." Anyway, so but that person is still up there and we're still very good friends and my current partner is great about that. And when we go up there, we see them, see them because, they've got somebody special in their life now, and they're living in the duplex. It's so very sweet. I'm really glad that they're still up there and everything is working out for them now because they had all kinds of problems and I didn't know what they were coming from. And then when it finally all came out, they got better. They're able to quit drinking so much and stuff like that.

Austin: That's good to hear that they're doing well and embracing their new identity.

Felicia: She's so fabulous now. It's funny watching watching her portray what she thinks a woman is, you know, like what a woman is to her. And she says she's modeling everything after me, which is very humbling that I made that kind of impression that, that I was that good for them, during the time we were married, that they want to be me.

Austin: And that they were probably internalizing all that all along. And they never even knew.

Felicia: You know, he'd be so stupid. We'd be out like at the mall and he'd look at me, looking at shoes, “that girl's shoes are stupid.” I should have known. I'm like, what do you care? You want a pair? “No. No.” And I'm like, yeah, I'm starting to think you do. But, we're still very, like I said, we're still very good friends. If I need 20 bucks, he's, you know, she's my man. She's my...anyway, and it goes back both ways. Hey, can you help a brother out? We help a sister out. And, then we do, you know, so it's good.

Austin: Yeah.

Felicia: We helped each other raise each other's kids. Yeah, they had a son. I had two two kids and so we just raised them together and got through the weeds because having kids is being in the weeds.

Austin: Yeah. So, if you could spend an entire weekend doing just the things that you love doing, what would that weekend look like?

Felicia: I guess it would be, I really like just poking around in thrift stores on my own. I I like going shopping with people, but I don't like to hink that I am making them wait or be there longer than they want to be or the other way around. I like to bring my own car places. I don't like to, you know, carpool as much so I can leave when I need to or want to. But I'm, you know, I'm kind of a gentle person when it comes to if I'm driving to something, I always check it with them when they want to leave. I don't say “I'm driving, we're leaving” when I want to. I'm being, you know, I'm not an [untranscribed] so, I just say, "When do you want to leave? Let me know and we'll go." And there's that because most of the time once I've made my appearance and said my hello and I can say my goodbyes and, you know, I leave my tray of whatever and then I go home. But I like to just poke around in thrift stores and take myself out to lunch and I call my friends or I meet up with somebody. I love to meet up with a friend and go do something and talk for ever about whatever they're going through or whatever I'm going through. I have a lot of female friends and we all support each other. Yeah, they're real ones, man. They're not catty girls. They're not fake girls. They are real women with real concerns, political concerns, family concerns. It’s not like we all just talk about hair and nails and have pillow fights. We talk about, you know, valid important subjects and for women, nothing is more important than their home life and how they're keeping their home. And my friend right now, one of my closest friends, I’m going to see her after this actually. She's living with her son and then her grandchildren and it's just sweet, you know, three boys.

Austin: Yeah.

Felicia: And they're just all little and cute and Christmas is coming and that's going to be just marvelous.

Austin: Yeah. When you go out and go like thrifting and antiquing, I know you mentioned earlier the place on X Street, but are there other hot spots for that around Sacramento that you like to go to?

Felicia: There's one I like to go to on 65th and Fruitridge, and it's just called The Thrift Store. And I don't know who's owns it, but they've never, they're not the same prices as like Goodwill. They're really cheap over there and they don't like randomly. Oh my gosh. I went to Thrifttown over on El Camino.

Austin: Oh, the one in Ladybird the movie?

Felicia: Is that the one?

Austin: Well, I think there was some maybe it was a Netflix movie called Ladybird where

Felicia: Was there one on El Camino?

Austin: Yeah. Over there like in Del Paso Heights area.

Felicia: Yeah, I went to that one and I was like, Oh, what a nice plate. $39. Like, are you over here [untranscribed]

Austin: Right?

Felicia: I was like, "Okay, well, what about this?" $20 for a metal thing that held two glass bowls like for snacks.

Austin: That's how I feel about it sometimes. I like looking around.

Felicia: It's upsetting. I don't like to be jacked around by a thrift store. You got that [untranscribed] for free. Stop being like that.

Austin: Right?!

Felicia: And they're blaming on resellers, but you know what? Shut up about that. Shut up about that because they are allowed to buy something and resell it.

Austin: And I feel like they're doing all of the work to take the pictures and put it up.

Felicia: It's a big deal, you know, because I mean just because someone's going to make more money than you doesn't mean, and it's not even your money. You're the employee.

Austin: And you would have to know that random thrift store had that random thing. Like, there's no way else that you would know other than strolling in there and finding it.

Felicia: Yeah. I don't do that. I like to buy things off next door and stuff. Yesterday in fact or the day before I got this from a gal, study cards, survival plant recognition for the Department of the Navy.

Austin: That's pretty cool

Felicia: These are from the 1960s and they're just plant identifiers and they've got poison plants that you should avoid and good plants that you can eat.

Austin: I love that

Felicia: They're in really, the cards are in really good shape. The box is, you know, a little bit worn, but these are, I got these for 10 bucks. They're very collectible but I'm not going to resell them. I just like to keep things so that maybe one day when I'm gone, somebody will run across them in my stuff and go, "Oh, these are cool."

Austin: Yeah.

Felicia: And then they can make somebody else's day with my things that I've left behind. But I'm not big on reselling.

Austin: Yeah.

Felicia: But I don't harsh anyone that does. I think that's great because we're living in a time when you got to have that hustle.

Austin: Yeah. Absolutely.

Felicia: Yeah.

Austin: Are there any places whether in California or anywhere else where you go there and it just sort of reminds you of a past stage of your life?

Felicia: Oh my god. Yeah. just everywhere. Yeah. Sacramento is like a dream that follows me and haunts me all the time and always brings me home. No matter how many times I leave here, I always end up back.

Austin: Yeah.

Felicia: And Del Paso Heights where Well, no, it's Natomas at the edge of Del Paso basically is where we are. And I have lots of memories there because I lived over on [untranscribed] which is or no on [untranscribed] which is off [untranscribed] and I used to shop at their little corner market for my mom and I would buy ground beef for 99 cents a pound there and bring it home. And I had my 16th birthday party there and I went to Grant High School. I went to Rio Linda High School. I went to Rio Tierra. I went to Golden State and Elkhorn Village. That's an old little school in Bryte. You know Bryte. Okay. So, when you go over the bridge, that's Broderick. And then you go a little bit further in that's Bryte.

Austin: Can you…?

Felicia: Over the I Street Bridge?

Austin: Oh, okay. In like West Sacramento. Got it.

Felicia: So, West Sacramento is on that side of Reed Avenue. And then you've got Bryte, which is if you just keep going, there's this little suburban community over there that's been there for a very, very, very long time. And that was where I lived. It's right along the levy. Yeah, that's Bryte.

Austin: Interesting.

Felicia: And then Broderick is over there as well. And then West Sacramento. And it used to be separated by those names, but now they just call it West Sacramento. Oh, isn't Broderick the name of, there's like a little tavern or something down there. It's 511 Broderick or something like that. I don't remember. I've eaten there before. It's not bad.

Austin: Yeah.

Felicia: Like a good burger.

Austin: Cool. What are some of the things that have influenced the places you go and the things that you do?

Felicia: It never influences the places that I go, but everywhere I go, I find something new to eat. And if I travel to a different state, I try to do something wild there because I don't live there.

Austin: Yeah. Well, you have to, right?

Felicia: So, I do something wild. I went to Washington to see my cousin and he was going to be in the pride parade. So, I got to be in the pride parade, too. He was doing Gwar. He had a Gwar costume. And I was wearing duct tape. That's it. And I was in this parade. I'm like, why not? It's pride parade. So, I'm walking around and I got hot and I got filthy and it was fun. I had a good time.

Austin: Yeah.

Felicia: I don't live there.

Austin: Was it Washington State?

Felicia: Yeah. Uh,

Austin: or Washington DC?

Felicia: No, Washington State.

Austin: Okay. Yeah. How would you describe Sacramento to somebody who's never been here before?

Felicia: I would describe it as a city full of trees. Beautiful in the fall. Like right now, it's just stunning downtown. All of the leaves are falling. The trees, there's ginko trees and they're bright yellow and there's all kinds of red leaves. And I would always tell people that downtown is the place to be. That's downtown. And South Sac is really neat. And when they say when people tell me I'm from Sacramento and they say Roseville, I'm like you're not. What are you talking about? You're not from Sacramento. Sacramento County is really large, right? But Sacramento City, I don't know. There's a lot of sprawl.

Austin: Yeah.

Felicia: But really, you know, Sacramento has it all. It's got agricultural land. It's got city. It's, you know, downtown, midtown, uptown, you know, Tahoe Park, Curtis Park, the Fab 40s. It's got lots of parks that are nice. Couple of them have really nice ponds in them. And I would say that it just feels really idyllic here, but people do not have a grasp on momentum when it comes to driving.

Austin: That is true.

Felicia: Something about driving in Oakland, like you'd think it'd be really crazy, but people let you in. Over here, they speed up so you can't get in.

Austin: Yeah, me first.

Felicia: Yeah, they're just rude like that. So, you have to really assert yourself on the freeway and everywhere else. You have to assert yourself and you have to be prepared for that middle finger and just look, just pretend you didn't see that. Just be like, turn up your radio when they're yelling and just keep on going, keep on trucking.

Austin: Do you feel like you have any specific personality traits that help you kind of determine the kinds of places that you feel gravitated towards?

Felicia: I always feel attracted to nature. I like to go places like that. Not because I want to be alone. I just very very much like the look of natural places. Like the things that kind of low-key bug me are manicured lawns and manicured center dividers and with trees. And it's all designed. I actually used to live next door to somebody who was going to school for that. I said, "I just hate that." He's like, "I'm going to school for that." I'm like, "What? You go to school for that for like putting grass and flowers places." And he said, "Yeah, believe it or not, there's a lot of math that goes into it."

Austin: Yeah, landscape architecture.

Felicia: Landscape architecture. I'm like, "Oh my god, I never heard of such a thing." But I didn't go to college and that's probably why I never heard of such a thing. But but I like to, you know, I like to go to natural places most of the time. And I do love to go to the mall sometimes and just poke around a window shop, get a piece of candy.

Austin: Yeah.

Felicia: Buy a dress, you know, stuff like that is fun.

Austin: I was so excited the one time I went to the Lolli and Pops store in the mall and they have like the whole wall of gummy bears, every flavor you can imagine. And I didn't need a ton, you know? I just wanted to try some like for, you know, a snack. And so I got a couple different flavors that I would like. And the lady at the counter was so nice and she's like, you know, this is just a sample. You don't need to pay for it. And I was that just made my day. It was so It was so fun.

Felicia: Which mall was that?

Austin: I think that was actually Roseville. The one at Arden was like no. There's a store there, too. They we're like, "No, you have to pay for that."

Felicia: Oh my gosh. Maybe. So it's not just me. So Okay. So I was in Arden Mall and I was looking for a dress and I was kind of struggling. It was for a wedding that I was going to for a friend and I couldn't find anything and I couldn't find anything. And by the time I had looked in all the stores. I couldn't find the right thing and I was so exhausted and there was this kid, this nice looking kid, standing outside the Apple store and he had Jamba Juice samples. I was like, "Oh my god, you're saving my life right now. Can I have one of those?" And he's like, "These are only for Apple store customers." And I just started crying.

Austin: Oh, I'm sorry.

Felicia: Well, one of my interesting personality traits is that I don't like the word no.

Austin: Yeah.

Felicia: I don't say it if I can avoid it and I don't like it being said to me, especially for an arbitrary reason. This there, you know, Jamba Juice was right there. They're clearly making these samples all day long. And he didn't feel like, he just felt like having some power and saying no to me for no reason. And it was really hurtful.

Austin: Yeah.

Felicia: And unnecessary, unnecessarily hurtful. It's like you're not making them

Austin: Right.

Felicia: Do I have to go in the Apple store and come back out so I can get one? It just, it made me feel bad. And I just don't like to be told no.

Austin: Yeah.

Felicia: About arbitrary things. If it's a safety issue, if it's no because we don't have enough, no because these are poison. No, because I don't know what else other the reason. No, because I just ran out. You have to wait 10 minutes. But not no because I can say it.

Austin: Yeah.

Felicia: I don't care for that.

Austin: Can you think of a moment where you either went somewhere or did something and you just had this feeling of like, wow, this moment right here is just for me?

Felicia: Oh, yeah. I have those moments when I look at sunsets and sunrises. In fact, when I was a kid and I was living in Bryte, I would watch the sun come up in the, we had this big window that faced across a field and that’s where the school was and the field didn't have anything in it for a long time. And then after we moved out of there, they built a bunch of houses. So, you can't see it now, but you used to be able to watch the sun come up there. And those, watching sunrises has always been like one of those private just for me moments.

Austin: If someone really wanted to understand you through the places that you love, where would they go and what should they do?

Felicia: Old Sacramento. I love Old Sacramento. I love it. You should go there and go to Fanny Ann’s or go to O’Mally’s. They have nice, you know, drinks there. And it's fun to go underneath the walkway and walk down K Street. K Street's really fun. and go see a movie at the Crest Theater or Tower Theater. Tower Theater is fantastic. That's like where I like to go. Go to Nick's,or Nick's Italian, in West Sacramento. It's been there for a long time, i you want to have something nice to eat there.

Austin: But is that the one that's kind of in that like motel? I've heard family recommend that. And I went there once and I was like, "Oh, I don't know. The food is better than it looks."

Felicia: Yeah. Yeah. It's just a very old place.

Austin: Yeah.

Felicia: Or go to the river. I always recommend people go to the river, especially Discovery Park because of the convergence of the two rivers. That's really special because even if you look at it from Google Maps, you can see the Sacramento being green going that way and the American being dark blue going this way and the two do not mix. They just go right past each other. Like they don't even they don't trade any water. It's really amazing how nature is like that. It has its own force.

Austin: Yeah, it definitely does.

Felicia: Yeah. So, for me, any anywhere like any river spot or downtown anywhere is really fun to go. Even if you're just going for a walk and you want to look at the trees and stuff like I'm very boring. I'm sorry.

Austin: No, no, that's all good.

Felicia: But I know there are some room escapes that they've built out here. Um, and I would love to go to one. I haven't been to one yet. I used to do them on my computer all the time.

Austin: Yeah. I've tried to get friends to do it and they're like, I don't know. I don't know how I feel about being stuck in a room. It's like, well, it's not it's a game.

Felicia: It's really, really fun to play them on your computer and then, you know, there's a little bit of math. So, if you go, you bring a little quartet and you bring someone who's good at math and someone who's good at this and good at that and then together you work together and you get out of there. But, I think they're fun. And there used to be a place called Monster Golf. I don't think it's still there. And it was up in Orangeville by the Spaghetti Factory or wait, you know, where Hazel Avenue is and Folsom Boulevard. There was a monster golf and it had animatronic dinosaurs in it and monsters and it was all glow-in-the-dark golf, mini golf.

Austin: That sounds really neat, actually.

Felicia: It was rad. It was rad. They had a party room and I went to a birthday party there once. I used to do Rocky Horror when I was a teenager. I was one of the characters over there at Bird Cage. All the dressing up and everything and we had our little cast. I don't know if you've ever been to Rocky Horror.

Austin: I haven't, but I've my mom was a big fan

Felicia: Okay. So, she would know. I was Columbia and I wanted that part because she had a tap dance routine. So, of course, I you know, being a performer, I like to do that.

Austin: And finally, what's one thing about you that would surprise people who might only know Felicia on like a surface level?

Felicia: I don't know. I don't know many people on a surface level. Like a stranger, like if I was meeting a stranger, they might, you know, I've got my stranger face. Hi, you know. And I usually give tone for tone when I meet people. If they're a certain way, I compliment that certain way. so that I can meet with them in the middle and so that they don't feel uncomfortable. I'm always concerned about other people's discomfort or comfort when they're speaking with me or interacting with me at all. And because I don't want to be off-putting. So even if someone's off-putting to me, I always think that's real interesting.

Austin: Yeah. Right.

Felicia: I'm like, look at this human. It's behaving in a strange way. I must know them. Those are the people I'm attracted to and become friends with.

Austin: Yeah, I think that's a great personality trait to have, honestly. Well, Felicia, thank you so much for joining us.

Felicia: Thanks for having me.

Austin: Yeah and if you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to like, subscribe, and enjoy Northern California!