Touching Concrete

Layla Mullen 0:07
Hey guys, welcome to touching concrete. This is our first episode. My name is Layla,

Brooke Lyle 0:12
and my name is Brooke,

Layla Mullen 0:13
and we are so excited for you to be listening to us.

Brooke Lyle 0:15
Yes. Thank you guys so much for tuning in today. For our first episode, we just wanted to do an icebreaker a little get to know you.

Layla Mullen 0:23
I have a question, yeah, what is your opinion on icebreakers?

Brooke Lyle 0:27
I love icebreakers so so much. Because, like, if I'm in a group setting, or even a class, I just love to hear everybody's what they have to say about themselves. Like, if they have a dog, if they have a cat, if they have a fish, siblings, I want to know.

Layla Mullen 0:43
Wow. I do not agree with you. Wow. I get severe anxiety when the teacher is like, Okay, time for an icebreaker. Introduce yourself. One, because I don't like speaking in front of people face to face, I get that. Two, I don't have a fun fact or one that I think is really fun. And three,I never remember what other people say.

Brooke Lyle 1:11
That's true,

Layla Mullen 1:12
but I understand why teachers do it. I just it's not my favorite. Yeah, and I never have liked it.

Brooke Lyle 1:19
Yeah. I also never remember what people say, but in the moment, I enjoy it. I cannot tell you what a single person has ever said, though couldn't tell you, but I do enjoy it in the moment. But today, we're not gonna do it in too just in a live fashion or any sort of fashion like that. We're just gonna talk, in a talking fashion,

Layla Mullen 1:41
like we've been friends for years

Brooke Lyle 1:42
exactly. So, yeah, so I'll go first, yeah. So my name is Brooke. I'm a mechanical engineering major. I'm an environmental science minor. My hometown is about 30 minutes away from here, so I'm local to the area. I have always been a very big podcast listener. It started back in eighth grade when I got a concussion. The only thing I could do was listen to podcasts and sit in the dark. Wow. I couldn't read a book, I couldn't watch TV, obviously, I had a concussion. I couldn't do anything, so I listen to podcasts.My favorite podcasts are the broski report with Brittany broski, out of character with Hamzah and Martin,obsessed with Brooke Averick, even though it's over, I loved it. Brooke and Connor make a podcast with Brooke and Connor.Yeah, I love podcasts. I'm very excited to be making one myself. Yeah, with you.

Layla Mullen 2:46
Those are all good, yeah,

Brooke Lyle 2:47
yeah. So what about you?

Layla Mullen 2:50
I am majoring in Business Administration with a concentration in marketing, and I'm thinking of minoring in English.

Brooke Lyle 2:58
I think you should do it.

Layla Mullen 2:59
I'm unsure, but that's a problem for later. I'm from Beaufort, North Carolina, which is about three hours, so not too far, it's at the beach. I've just grown up on the internet since I was a child, a child, and I've always been on YouTube listening to podcast, which podcast really started popping off only a few years ago, yeah, and since then, I've been an avid listener of pretty basic with Alicia Marie and Remy Cruz,Broski report, Rhett and Links your biscuits. Yeah, that's really the mom, yeah, very interesting. Yes, yeah, love them. Yeah, that's pretty much. I have a bunch more, but those are my top right

Brooke Lyle 3:49
top rotation,

Layla Mullen 3:50
yep, on repeat, yeah.

Brooke Lyle 3:53
Next, we wanted to just explain the name of the pod a little bit. I know that touching concrete may be a little bit confusing to some. It's definitely out there, but we're just gonna explain it for you guys. So,

Layla Mullen 4:09
yeah, totally,at first glance, it's a little strange to some, but have you ever been told that you need to go outside and touch grass? Yes, all the time, every day me, and I tell myself that, in my mind, I do, but I don't actually follow through with it.

Brooke Lyle 4:27
Never.

Layla Mullen 4:29
But we were thinking, Okay, we've been told we need to go outside, touch grass. What's the opposite of grass?

Brooke Lyle 4:35
Concrete? Not really, but that's what came to our minds when we were thinking that try to think of a podcast name. It's quite difficult. It's quite difficult. Yeah. And also, when we were coming up with this, it was last semester, during finals, we were couped up in the library for 10 hours a day, not touching grass at all.

Layla Mullen 4:56
Gosh, I My heart just sank a little bit. Yeah.But yeah, yeah. We just want to deep dive into the internet, so we somehow correlated that with concrete.

Brooke Lyle 5:08
Well, listen, because we if you're on your phone too much, somebody might tell you to go touch grass. Yes, but we are not getting off our phone, right? We are on our phones. We are on the internet, on our laptops all the time, so I've ate We're not touching grass. So what are we doing? We're touching concrete. I love it. Yeah, I think it's a fun name. Yeah, it is fun and but yes, we wanted to talk about the internet, talk about anything, like pop culture related, anything you may see on Tiktok, on Instagram, like movies, TV shows, music, memes, everything. So that's why it's named that. If you have any questions, concerns or comments, please let us know. But yeah, that's the name of the pod. And yeah. But also, we don't only just want to talk about that stuff because it is fun, but we also want to talk to have different people on who are members of different clubs around campus, yes, and just hear their perspective, hear why they like their club, why they joined stuff like that.

Layla Mullen 6:15
So, yeah, yeah, I had mie 310, entrepreneurship shout out last semester, and there was a presentation, and the presenter told us that there's over 700 student organizations on campus, and I think I could name five, yeah, not even, not even five. So I think it'd be really interesting to reach out to these organizations, get them on the pod. It could be just, you know, regular members of the club. It doesn't necessarily have to be someone on the executive side of the Not at all. Could be anybody. But, you know, it's so important to find a group that you belong to find people who have similarities. I've definitely learned that since coming to college, and it can be hard to find your group of people, especially on a campus that's as big as states is. So I think it'd be very beneficial to anyone who listens to us. Yeah, if you are interested in joining a club, maybe follow along. We'll have some different people on to talk about theirs, why they liked it, yeah, or why they enjoy it currently. And yeah, we're excited for this journey where it takes us, the people we're gonna meet. We're very excited. I'm so excited, yeah, because it's also nerve wracking to kind of go head first into a club without not knowing the ins and outs of it,

Brooke Lyle 7:38
definitely.

Layla Mullen 7:40
So I think having someone on the podcast who was having a normal conversation, you know, they're just explaining things, and they can even give their inputs on what they think about the internet, Oh, for sure, their favorite podcast, whatever that might be, yeah, I think it'll be really helpful to new students, to students who have been here but still feel like they need to find people who they mesh really well with. Definitely. I think it's gonna be great. Yeah, so tune in for that. If you like the internet, if you like pop culture, if you like clubs, we're for you. If you love NC State, if you have NC State, yeah, we're Yeah. We're just so excited and,yeah, so that's the that's what the podcast is going to be, and also a little bit about us. I kind of wanted to touch really quickly on us growing up on the internet, yeah, um, the Internet has changed a lot since we were even children. Yes, it has, for sure. Um, I kind of mentioned it earlier, but I literally grew up on the internet, same like I'd spend my weekends. That's what I wanted to do. I wanted to be on my phone. I wanted to be watching YouTube. When I came home from school, immediately, I'd go to the computer Yeah, I'd go to the computer room. I'd watch YouTube, I'd play games. So, yeah, no,

Brooke Lyle 9:05
I had the same experience. Igot an Instagram account when I was eight years old, yeah, which is insane to think back on, but in the moment, I was so excited. And it is partially because, well, not even partially, solely because my sister is six years older than me, and so she got an Instagram account when I was eight. And so I needed one too obviously, right? And my only followers were her and her friends, and I loved it. And I just loved seeing the photos and everything. And that was the start of my internet journey,

Layla Mullen 9:38
your internet career, yeah, I also got Instagram, really young, but I love my parents, but they have no clue about the internet.

Brooke Lyle 9:49
Yeah, to be honest, and honestly though, I will say it was very different than than it is now 100% because back then, it was like people were unsure. Mm.

Of it. But now, like, you know, it's not good for little kids, especially, yes, and like, it's a detriment on mental health, everything. But also, obviously, it comes with positives, and that's why people are on it. So it connects people, especially during COVID, I think especially like with the rise of Tiktok and stuff during COVID, people were really brought together because you couldn't see each other in person. So I think it was vital then and also to connect different like people far away, that it is vital for that reason as well, but it does come with some horrible consequences, but that's with anything.

Layla Mullen 10:36
You know, there's good and bad to everything, exactly. I yeah, my brother's also a little bit older than me, like a year and a half, not even, and he was on Instagram, so I probably had that same sentiment of, oh, I need that too. Yeah, I definitely posted a lot more than my brother did. I posted some random things, like picture of a wall, and I captioned it. This is a wall.

Brooke Lyle 11:05
So that's just, that's the content I needed to be seeing at the time, but that's the content I need to be seeing now, honestly,

Layla Mullen 11:12
honestly, here's the thing, though, I don't regret it. I don't it's kind of hard, like I do wish I wasn't on Instagram and stuff that young, because some of the photos I posted, goodness gracious, digital footprint. Digital Footprint goes crazy, yeah? But on the other hand, it's not like I posted anything that you know was out of the norm for a 10 year old. Yeah, I'm just not gonna, like, come back to haunt you, right? Sure. I just wishI just, I don't know it's kind of hard.

Brooke Lyle 11:46
Yeah, it's hard, for sure. And like, the climate of social media, like I said, has been changing, soback then, I feel like it wasn't as harmful, or maybe it was, but we just didn't know.

Layla Mullen 11:58
Well, even today, like you are interviewing for a job. You're getting hired for a job. They're looking at your Instagram and your social medias even like LinkedIn. I've had classes that are based solely around creating your LinkedIn profile, like everything is on the internet now, and it wasn't like that, not at all 10 years ago, and people weren't,at least to me, people weren't making money like they are now.

Brooke Lyle 12:26
Oh yeah, for sure. That's definitely a new, a newer thing, I would say, like YouTube vloggers, like, that's definitely new in the past, like,two decades.

Layla Mullen 12:39
Yeah, and you go to, like, a middle school, elementary school. You know, it used to be like, oh, I want to be a doctor. I want to be a teacher. Now it's like, I want to be a YouTuber. I want to be a tech talker. So it's just crazy to see how it's evolved. Yeah, it has, like, such a big impact on everything. So I'm excited to be talking about it. Yeah, on this podcast, there's so much to talk about. So much endless. The internet is endless, literally and permanent, scary, oh, oh, that's scary. Hit him. Hit him with it.That's scary. But yeah, anything else to add about the internet? Growing up on the internet, honestly, I don't think so we can kind of dive deeper in later episodes, for sure, but I think that's a goodstarting point. Yeah, a little background on ourmedia literacy, yeah,

Brooke Lyle 13:34
yeah. So to close us out, let's do our Thorn and Rose.If you may not know what that is, it is a good thing about your day and a bad thing about your day. And this is back to my love of icebreakers. I love thorn and Rose. It like, I feel like icebreakers and Thorn and roses are like kind of I was gonna because you're saying stuff about about yourself, you're getting to know about people's days, whatever, but like my family at the dinner table, always did, thorn and roses, and maybe that's why I love icebreakers so much, because I love thorn and Rose, and I just grew up doing that. Yeah, interesting correlation there. Anyways, yeah, solet's just do our Thorn and roses. Do you want to go first? Sure. So let's see, my rose, is that it's Friday, and I don't have classes on Friday, so it's been a pretty chill day, which I'm thankful for. And I'm just excited for the weekend. I'm excited for the basketball game tomorrow versus Clemson. Don't know if we're gonna win, don't know if we're gonna lose, but excited for it either way.Yeah, my thorn is that I have exams coming up. I have my first I have a thermodynamics exam on Wednesday, and then I have a solids exam the following week, and a dynamics exam the following week. It's just like, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy. So many exams I have to start studying. I.Hmm, yeah, not ready for it. What about you?

Layla Mullen 15:04
My Thorn, yeah, let's start with the bad my thorn. I have a couple.First one, my Spotify was hacked. That is horrible. Gosh, my playlists were perfectly curated. And now, you know, I hit shuffle, and music that I don't listen to was on there, but it's fine. Second, I had a quiz today, and I'm not feeling too sure about it. What was the class? It was macro economics. I just didn't really know what to expect on the quiz, but now I know for next time, yeah and yeah, that's the good thing about taking, like, a quiz or an exam for the first time, yes, you know what to expect for later, I give myself grace. Yeah, you have to have to third.I have a busy weekend, which is also a thorn. I mean, a rose, excuse me, but I'm volunteering at the Krispy Kreme run tomorrow. Yes, no kidding, in Raleigh, yeah, but I do have to be up at like 5am that's hard, so that's a little difficult. I'm just gonna take the evening to rest, relax. It'll be nice moving to my roses.A busy weekend. I'm also excited for the game against Clemson. I have hope we're gonna win. I hope so, because my uncle is a ginormous Clemson fan. Have to prove him wrong, yeah, if we win, oh, I'm sending him photos, yeah,another rosethis week was busy, but it was a good, busy week, if that makes sense, yeah, definitely. I felt productive. I did all the things I needed to do. I felt like I did stuff socially. I did my schoolwork. I did personal care, things like that.

Brooke Lyle 17:01
Yeah, academic, queen, social, queen, personal care, queen, have to balance it all, and it's and it is so hard to balance it all. Yes, like for me, I feel like, so far this semester, I have not been balancing it well. I've been prioritizing, like, my socials more than my school, and it's gonna come back to bite me when I have my first exam next week,

Layla Mullen 17:23
same I have three exams next week, and I am prepared for none of them. Yeah, I'm also struggling with balancing my social life and my academic life. I am just saying yes to too many things, but two semesters ago. Now, I had a difficult semester. You know, freshman year, we all have our troubles, trials and tribulations, yeah, um, so I think I'm just saying yes to everything now because I didn't have the opportunity to do it a few semesters ago. Um, that makes sense. Yeah, it's all good busy, but I definitely need to chill out a little bit, chill out a little bit me too, for my own mental well being. Yeah, I would agree. And it's like flu season. If you don't, if you don't prioritize your mental health and your rest and relaxation, you're gonna get sick.

Brooke Lyle 18:17
You're gonna get sick. And one thing about me is I will get sick, and when I get sick, I'm down for the count, like for two weeks.

Unknown Speaker 18:27
I don't get sick often, but when I do, it's like the worst type. But I don't get sick often. I get sick often, and it's the worst type every single time.

Layla Mullen 18:37
So not to complain, not to complain at all, but we're complaining. We're complaining, and that's okay, but being sick is something I feel is worthy of a complaint. Oh, 100% and everyone seems to be sick right now. Yeah,

Brooke Lyle 18:50
yeah, for sure. Yeah. Do you have anything else to add?

Layla Mullen 18:55
I don't think so. Not that I can think of. Yeah. Well, yeah. Thank you guys, so much for listening.

Brooke Lyle 19:01
We're so excited for this journey of touch and concrete. Stay tuned for more pop culture clubs, internet,everything so yeah, we're just so excited.

Layla Mullen 19:14
So we'll catch you in our next episode. Yes, bye, guys.

Brooke Lyle 19:18
Bye.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai