This episode with Erika is actually the first I ever recorded for the show. If you’re already a loyal listener, you’ll know that Erika is the show’s editrix extraordinaire, as well as a veteran podcaster whose lovely encouragement is a large part of why I was finally able to bring this show to life. So, of course, it felt natural to start with her and ease into the rest of my interviews. This episode will always hold a soft spot in my heart.
As always, I’ve left out some laughter tags and weird little reaction noises, and done my best to keep the important stuff faithfully intact.
Show notes are included after this transcript. (If you somehow stumbled across this post without knowing about the podcast episode, hi! Here’s a handy link to find the interview on the web.)
TRANSCRIPT:
[jazzy jumpin’ music]Sandra Wong: Hello and welcome to We Contain Multitudes, the casual interview show with famous and accomplished guests who share the geek-outs, hobbies, and interests which they might not necessarily be known for. I am your host, Sandra Wong, and today, I have the pleasure of being joined by [singsongy] Erika Ensign. Hi, Erika!
Erika Ensign: Hi, Sandra. I’m very, very excited to be here.
SW: I am so excited too! And thank you so much for agreeing…to my wild idea [both laugh] that is this podcast for sharing joy in the world in a very niche way. So, people out there listening—Erika, let me just tell you a little bit about Erika Ensign.
EE: Oh boy.
SW: Erika Ensign has, on hiatus, more podcasts than most of us have ever listened to, including
EE: [cracks up] True.
SW: including the world famous Doctor Who podcast, Verity!, as well as the avid fan fave Earp Chirp, about the TV series Wynonna Earp. And that’s just two out of a million. Erika is also a multiple award winner for her work with Uncanny Magazine—[stage whispers] eight Hugos and counting. [Erika laughs] More importantly, to me anyway, is that Erika is the editrix extraordinaire for We Contain Multitudes.
[both laugh]EE: Ha ha!
SW: Without Erika and our mutual friend and podcaster Annette Wierstra, this podcast, my wild little brainchild, would not be happening. Plus, I would sound like I lived in a Quonset hut. So thank you so much, Erika. Thank you so much for being here.
EE: Thank you. I mean, I do like picturing you, like, sitting in a cozy little Quonset hut, but probably the sound would not be ideal.
SW: [laughs] Would not be great. Yeah, I would have to have that blanket over my head and the mic, and, you know, I thought I would have to do that for this.
EE: I have done that.
SW: [laughing] There were a lot of sound issues.
EE: It’s not fun. There’s no air under a blanket, I can tell you that from experience.
SW: Yes. It doesn’t sound good. Plus, you know, I’m on Zoom with you so that we can have a conversation, and it doesn’t feel awkward. So, we have the video running, and that would just be— You would just be laughing at me the whole time.
EE: That’s true, I would. You’d be in a little cave, it’d be great.
SW: Yeah. Yeah, but that’s not what we’re here for. What we’re here for, is to talk about a geek-out that you have. Or something you want to nerd out about, a hobby or an interest. So, what do you want to share with us today?
EE: Okay, well, I was trying to think, like, what are my hobbies and interests? And I’m one of those people that flits from thing to thing. Like, I have knitted a couple of scarves and I have, I’ve crocheted…a couple of scarves. I have done some, like, you know, grown-up colouring in, like, you know, those really, really fiddly coloring books and stuff. But like, there are few things that I am super passionate about and I thought it might be cheating, but I don’t care. I’m doing it anyway. Is, I want to talk about my collection of Trivial Pursuit. [laughs] Which is sort of connected to podcasting because I made a podcast out of it. But the collection existed first. Like, that was a thing that I just had. And I mean, it’s grown because of the podcast, but the podcast did not inspire the collection in any way, shape, or form.
SW: Okay, I love this. So tell us, when did you start collecting? Also, like, does everyone out there know what Trivial Pursuit is, do you think?
EE: Well, that’s a, that’s a good question. Probably not everybody does. So Trivial pursuit is a game. It’s a board game, it’s trivia related. You might have guessed that by the title. And, it came out for the first time in 1981. It’s actually originally, I think, made by a Canadian company. So we’re getting
SW: Cor-rect
EE: CanCon in there. Even though I was not in Canada in 1981, I was in Wisconsin and…and yeah, so it’s a, it’s a board game with a single die, a six-sided die. And, like, you travel around the board, there’s different colors. And each color is related to a trivia question on the card. So, each card has six different colors, six different categories. And you’re trying to answer the questions right. And if you land on a special space, you get a, like a little plastic pie piece, like a little wedge that goes in your little your—’kay, this is, like, that was one of the things that appealed to me as a little kid, is the tactile nature of this circular little thing that’s like a little pie. And then, if you answer the question right on one of the big spaces, you get a colored little wedge that you get to slide down into your piece. And it was just, so—
SW: I love that, too.
EE: My family were…we’re geeks about Trivial Pursuit. My dad—in his prime, he just absorbed and retained all kinds of information, just so much. So, he was pretty much unbeatable at Trivial Pursuit. [Sandra laughs] So we would just, like, we had it, we would play it at family, like, gatherings and stuff. But…obviously as a child I could not play Trivial Pursuit. These are questions… These are trivia questions, like, for, for grown-ups, Mostly, they had
SW: Yeah, they’re real
EE: trivia I did not know. So, shortly after, I think it was, like—I do not know the release dates of all of the editions of Trivial Pursuit by heart. So like, I’m not that hardcore into it. But only a few years later, I think it was 1986, the Walt Disney Corporation licensed a Trivial Pursuit game that had one box with questions for grown-ups and one box with questions for kids.
SW: Yay!
EE: And they weren’t all Disney Disney questions. And just, this is trivia that happens to be for grown-ups and happens to be—Like, one box for grown ups, one box for kids. There were some Disney questions. And thatwas basically where my, my complete love for this game started, because we would,
SW: Wow
EE: we could play. I could finally play Trivial Pursuit. Even
SW: Yeah
EE: like, against my dad and sometimes have a chance of winning because the kids’ questions were a heck of a lot easier than the grown-ups’ questions, for the most part. And we brought it on family vacations and we would play it with, like, our relatives, you know, like my, my mom’s and dad’s siblings and their kids and stuff. It was just, it was just—that was always my favorite board game growing up, that I could play with my parents.
SW: Right. That’s fantastic. So not if—okay. You don’t have to say [laughs] if you don’t want to, but…after your father, who was the best player [both laugh] in the family?
EE: That’s a good question. Boy, it might have been me? Like
SW: I am not shocked.
EE: I was, I was pretty good. Like, when we, when I went to college, I took my family’s Trivial Pursuit with me to,
SW: Oh wow
EE: to live in the dorms with me because they—Like, the time had sort of passed. They weren’t playing it all the time anymore.
SW: Right.
EE: And, like, my good friend Mike and I, like, both knew a lot of stuff and we would occasionally just take on, like, the rest of the floor. [Sandra laughs] So it would be, like, the dorm floor versus Mike and me, and I don’t think we ever lost.
SW: No. Good for you. Reigning champs. They—do they have, like a, do they have, like, a photo of you in the dorms? [both laugh]
EE: They should.
SW: Trivial Pursuit Champs, nineteen-ninety…
EE: Ninety-five..? No, that would’ve been 1996. Yep.
SW: Okay. 1996. So, 1986 was when you [dramatically] started competitively.
EE: [laughing] Yes. Yes.
SW: With Trivial Pursuit. That’s, like, oh my gosh, that’s almost 40 years ago.
EE: I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that number.
SW: That’s amazing. That’s amazing.
EE: Uh-huh [mock unamused]
SW: Yeah.
EE: Yeah. And I don’t think… Was that—I, I’m not even sure that the Disney version was the second one that we got, because there were a number of editions that came out early. And I think the second one that we actually got was the Baby Boomer edition, because it came out only like a year, I think, after the original.
SW: [laughs] Right.
EE: I think that was, like, 1982 or 1983, and my parents, being baby boomers, were like, hey, this is an addition for us. So, so like, that was one that, that we had really early on. So it’s like, that—those two and the Disney ones were, like, those are the OG. Like, those are the ones I had from from way, way back. And I think the TV edition, and I can’t remember…I think we got it because it wasn’t a whole, it wasn’t a whole board game. It was just cards.
SW: Right
EE: And it was so hard that it wasn’t fun for anybody. So that thing just stayed in the closet.
SW: Okay. [laughs]
EE: Nobody wanted it.
SW: Okay. Oh, that’s so sad. The little Trivial Pursuit game that nobody wanted.
EE: It’s like, it’s—it sounds like it should be so fun. It’s the TV edition! And then all of the questions are just impossible. So. No. No. It’s hated.
SW: Oh dear, oh, dear. Okay, so of course, now we have to know: how many editions of Trivial Pursuit do you currently own, Erika Ensign?
EE: Oh, you know what? I don’t actually know the exact number. Because—
SW: It’s so high? [laughs]
EE: Because it is so high. Okay, I will say it’s probably around forty.
SW: Wo-o-ow
EE: [laughs] I can tell you, I can tell you that because— So I, I turned it into a podcast game show. And for the game show, like, for reasons of, of keeping organized with that, I wrote out a list so that myself and other people can look at this list, to see what the editions are. But it also has some, a couple—like 2 or 3—non Trivial Pursuit editions, which are, like… So, the first trivia game that I was able to play—this is before the Disney version came out. There was a game called Junior Trivia, and I don’t even know what company put this thing out. It’s not Trivial Pursuit, it’s just a little green box with questions. But there’s two different levels of difficulty: for 5 to 9 year olds and for 10 to 13 year olds. In 1983. So, like, that was the trivia game that I started playing even before I could play against my parents.
SW: Yeah.
EE: So, like, that is on the list, but because there’s two different difficulty levels on there, it takes up two different slots on the list. So I think my list is up to like forty-three, but I don’t think it’s forty-three editions of Trivial Pursuit.
SW: Wow.
EE: I’m looking at them. I could count them, but I can’t even see all of them at this point because they’re [both laugh] they’re spilling onto the floor and there’s one in the mail on its way to me from Australia right now.
SW: Oh, okay. So can we know what that edition is? Are you saving it for your next edition of Random Pursuit?
EE: This will be special for all of the bootleg listeners. The Incomparable members will get to hear it here first. Because probably everybody else will find out before this comes out, [Sandra laughs] as the podcast… But, apparently the airline, Qantas, the Australian airline Qantas put out an edition of Australian Trivial Pursuit. So
SW: What?
EE: it’s got like Australian history. It’s got, like, aviation stuff. The categories are amazing. And yeah, a very kind listener from Australia reached out and was like, would you like, would you— My husband and I would like to send this to you. And I was like… Normally, I say no because shipping’s so expensive and I don’t have a lot of space, but there’s a Qantas Australia edition. Like, even if I didn’t have a podcast, that is, that is the kind of thing that you want to add to a collection, for sure.
SW: My goodness. Okay. So if I were, if I were getting an edition like that, which sounds really special, I would literally open it up and read all the questions. I don’t know, is that a thing you do when you get a new edition? What do you do?
EE: I do tend to check out, like…a card or two.
SW: [cracks up] That’s it?
EE: Just to see how much, like, the difficulty level. I kind of want to know what I’m getting into for, for, like, players. So it’s more like I’m just skimming. Like, I don’t sit down and read all the questions. I never have. Like, there are people who they make jokes about. Yeah, I memorized the whole original, you know, Genus Edition.
SW: Oh geez
EE: I didn’t. I was never the kind of person who sat down and read all the cards. I think for me, I want those questions to come up in context,
SW: Yes
EE: in the context of a game show. And it’s way better when I’m the one asking the questions and then being able to just flip over the card and see what the answer is, than having to guess an answer. There’s a reason that I run the trivia show. Like, yeah, I used to be good at trivia. Those days are long past. [both laugh] Like, I’m only okay at this point.
SW: Right. So then, like… Because I had no idea until I was [breathless game show voice] privileged and honoured enough to be a contestant on Random Pursuit, I had no idea there were so many editions.
EE: Uh-huh
SW: And so, are, are they still making them?
EE: They are.
SW: Oh, my word!
EE: I mean, I think the Qantas one is actually just, like, real new and… I have it— Like, I don’t keep up on, like, what are all of the ones coming out because I [sighs] I can’t let myself get that wrapped up in it. [Sandra laughs] So it’s, like, if I come across one or if I happen to be, like, at a Target or something, when I’m in the States and I’m on vacation, it’s, like, oh, here’s a Trivial Pursuit that I’ve never actually seen before. Is it interesting enough that I want to add it to my collection? Then I will, but I’m not going to just go out and grab every single one that exists. I think the newest one that I had—well, Stephen just ordered the Beatles Trivial Pursuit.
SW: Ooh.
EE: There’s actually a full-on Beatles edition. [Sandra gasps] He hasn’t even cracked the plastic on it yet
SW: [reverently] Wow
EE: so we haven’t looked at that one. It hasn’t been
SW: Okay
EE: So that’s—but I don’t know exactly when that one came out. They’re, they’re, they’re making specific, really nerdy niche versions all the time. So like, the Beatles one…I got the Dungeons and Dragons one [Sandra laughs]…the Marvel Cinematic Universe one
SW: Right
EE: Which you’re really good at. Like, you are freakishly good at that. Mm-hmm.
SW: [cracking up] Maybe, maybe.
EE: [laughs] Uh-huh. But, like, for the general, general knowledge trivia ones, they are still making them. The newest one that I have is called Decade. It’s the weirdest name. It’s Trivial Pursuit Decades: 2010 to 2020.
SW: Okay.
EE: So, like, it’s just one decade, but it’s called Decades with the ‘s.’ I wonder if they were planning on doing
SW: A series.
EE: additional decades?
SW: Yeah.
EE: And if they have, I haven’t, I haven’t found that yet.
SW: Yeah.
EE: But that’s one that I would probably add to the collection, just so that I could stop being annoyed at the ‘s’ in Decades.
SW: Well, it’s, it’s very much, it’s giving me X-Men Origins: Wolverine energy so.
[both laugh]EE: Right. Mm-hmm.
SW: Yeah. Okay. So I do know that there are some people, I guess the term might be completionists who would absolutely have to collect every single edition. So, how do you decide which ones you want to buy and which ones you would just want to, like, maybe not think about buying?
EE: I— It’s so good that I was able to, like, shed the completionism thing before I really got into collecting these because yeah, that, that is a trap I could have fallen into were I younger. I used to just, like, if I would start a book, I would have to finish reading it. Like, at some point I realized, like, that was—that’s my midlife crisis—was realizing I didn’t have to finish every book because life is too short for that.
[both laugh]SW: Ye-es.
EE: And
SW: It’s called liberation.
EE: It really is. But same thing with Trivial Pursuit. I don’t need every edition. I don’t need to have all of them. So, really it’s…it’s totally vibes-based. [both laugh] Just like—
SW: That’s great!
EE: Is it something that I’m kind of interested in? Like, like, like when Steven said he wanted to get the Beatles edition, I was like, Yes.
SW: Yes!
EE: The Beatles, one of my favourite bands ever, that sounds great. I know I will suck at it, like, I’m not going to be good at it, but, I think it’s a fun thing to add. My… For my birthday, I think it was? A few years ago? Annette, who you mentioned earlier, and her lovely spouse, Nick, and our friend Kirsten, gifted me the Friends the TV show edition.
[both laugh]SW: Oh. Right.
EE: I also have, like, all of the Doctor Who editions, because
SW: Of course.
EE: Doctor Who, it’s like, that’s my, my bread and butter. So, like, the specific geeky ones I’m into. But then there are ones where I see it and I’m just like, that’s not, property that I’m interes—like, I, I can’t think of any examples right now, but if there was like a, I don’t know, like The Sopranos or Breaking Bad or some show that was really big that I’ve never seen.
SW: Yeah
EE: I would not feel like I needed to get that edition…
SW: Right.
EE: of Trivial Pursuit. But when there’s a Star Trek one that is literally a cute little plastic runabout with cards inside..? [Sandra laughs] Gotta have that.
SW: Yes, I actually gifted that one. We gifted that one to my brother one year.
EE: It’s so cute. Although—
SW: It is very cute.
EE: to my shame… See, if I were the kind of person who just went and, like, looked through all of the cards?
SW: Right.
EE: I would have been a better game show host at the time that I originally got that, because those cards, each card tells you which Star Trek edition the question’s from. So it’s, like, Original Series, Next Generation, DS9, Voyager, etc. and, or the movies. And I didn’t—like, I kind of, sort of knew, but I sort of didn’t realize, like, I think I just assumed they were all Original Series because it’s, like, the Original Series kind of little runabout thing.
SW: Yeah.
EE: So I was just pulling cards off of the top of the stack that’s in the cute little runabout and putting them in my, my randomized questions for the podcast, only for Steven later to discover, oh, you know, if you dig deeper into the stack, there’s questions about the Next Generation, and Voyager
SW: Right.
EE: and DS9. So, I had no idea because I hadn’t looked through the cards. I was just pulling from the top. So now, I make it a point to, like, shuffle through there so it’s a little bit more actually random.
SW: Yeah.
EE: Woops.
SW: I mean, but that one came out before all the reboot series. So…
EE: Yes
SW: if anyone is thinking, oh, I want one of those—absolutely, check it out. But if [laughs]
EE: I don’t think it even goes through Enterprise. I think it’s just up through Voyager.
SW: I think…and the films, I believe.
EE: And the films, yes, all the way through—
SW: It may or may not. It might have Enterprise.
EE: Maybe it does. It definitely has all the way through Star Trek Nemesis, like, so that final bad film.
SW: Yeah, yeah, my first Tom Hardy—
EE: If you can call it a film. [laughs]
SW: My first Tom Hardy. That’s why I’m fond of that film.
EE: I mean, Tom Hardy is good in that movie. I will give him that. [both laugh]
SW: Ah but we digress.
EE: Uh-huh.
SW: Okay. So, if there were someone out there who thought, Oh, golly, Trivial Pursuit sounds like a fun thing to get into. Would you recommend that they just try and find an original? Wouldn’t that be hard? To find that 1980… Did you say 1981?
EE: Mm-hmm, ’81.
SW: That would be hard.
EE: Honestly, it’s possible. There are so many editions of it out there, because it was everywhere, that you might be able to find it a thrift store or, like, a Goodwill or a second-hand shop. It’s possible. In fact, I think the one that I have now is one that I bought because I didn’t steal my parents’ edition. Is it this one? Anyway, like, I remember getting one, like for five bucks or something like that.
SW: Yes, yes.
EE: But I wouldn’t recommend it because those questions were written in 1981.
SW: [laughs] Really old.
EE: One of the categories is Geography. Some of those questions are no longer, like, applicable to the globe as it is today.
SW: Right.
EE: Like, so, so that is not a thing I would recommend. Actually, in 2016, they came out with an edition called the Classic Edition. So it’s got a blue box. It’s supposed to sort of mirror the, the vibe of the original Genus Edition. [stage whispers] It really fails in multiple ways, I have to say.
[both laugh]SW: Uh-oh.
EE: Steven always gets—
SW: [laughing] Controversial
EE: Steven always gets tetchy when I complained about it because it was a Christmas gift from him. But [laughs]
SW: No, golly, we love this edition. Ahem.
EE: But. Because, because I have some of the editions, I have a lot of feelings about the way that they do or do not do things. And, I appreciate that they brought back the original categories. So, like, that is a nice thing.
SW: Mm-hmm
EE: You don’t have Wild Card anymore. You have Sports and Leisure at the bottom of the card, the way it’s supposed to be. [Sandra laughs] That’s a good thing. But on the original Genus Edition, all of the categories, it’s like— On the card, it’s a little oval, a little oval shape. That’s, that’s got the colour. And, like, the first 2 or 3 letters or like, the first letter. So G for Geography and a little blue oval. On this Classic Edition, it’s just a little picture of a, of one of the little pie-shaped—like one of the little wedges with no letters. So, if you don’t have those categories memorized, you have to, like, look elsewhere to know what the category is.
SW: Right.
EE: And I think they might have changed the brown category to purple, which is just, like, I love the colour purple. Like, I mean literally the colour. I’m not talking about the book. But [both laugh] I really like purple as a colour. But brown is the, the “orig,” like, so…
SW: Right.
EE: Why, why mess with that? So.
SW: Yeah.
EE: Also the font? Real small. Those cards, like, it’s really, really little. Like, the, the, the size of the text is little. The one thing I will say that is actually better, is many of the newer editions give you a little extra information on the back of the card along with the answer.
SW: Nice.
EE: And I do like having a little bit of context sometimes. Although sometimes it’s baffling because there will be a question where it’s just, like, I need to know more about this and they give you nothing. And then, and then there’s one where it’s just, like, that would have been enough to just have the answer, and then they give you some weird—and like, it’s like the person who wrote them tried to give a little extra personality. [both laugh] So it’s like—I don’t want you winking at me, Trivial Pursuit card. I just want the information.
SW: Oh ho.
EE: Just the facts, ma’am.
SW: Just the facts, ma’am. That is so funny.
EE: Yep.
SW: So I get the feeling that you have not stopped collecting and you will continue into the future, am I right?
EE: Yeah. I tried to stop for a while, and then people just kept offering me ones where I was like, well, I can’t say no to that edition. And so, yes, I’ve come to terms with the fact that I need to buy a bigger bookshelf.
SW: Yeah. Oh, good for you. That’s always—that’s always the answer. More bookshelves. [both laugh]
EE: Yep. Eventually I might need a bigger apartment at this rate, but, you know, one step at a time.
SW: It’s fine. Exactly. It’s fine. Would it be fair to say that your love for Trivial Pursuit and the collecting and its— Yes, it’s the nerdery of it and trivia, we love learning things. But I also have this little feeling there’s a thread to, you know, that history you have with your dad.
EE: Mm-hm.
SW: Yeah.
EE: It is. It really, it’s… I think it’s just, like the— When I think about Trivial Pursuit, I think about my family. I mean, so much so that, in fact—so my cousin Scott, who’s just a couple years younger than me, we, he was in on many of those games, playing both that junior trivia game and the Disney Edition, like, on family vacations and stuff. And he reached out after he listened to an episode of Random Pursuit and was just, like, Erika, this is amazing. This is so fun.
SW: Aww
EE: And he’s like, if you ever, if you ever want to have me on… I was like, yes. So my cousin Scott is now one of the, like, semi-regular panelists on Random Pursuit. And like, I hadn’t talked to him in, like, [laughing] ten years before that.
SW: Oh wow
EE: So like, it is not only a thing that, like, brought my family together in, in, in the old days, but it is, it is something that is still creating connection. And I will, like, I will talk to my parents, and after each episode, they’ll, you know, they just…they will talk about how much they really enjoyed listening to Random Pursuit and hearing the questions. And especially when Cousin Scott is on, like, it’s just—it is still a family affair, it really is. And it just—it just makes me happy.
SW: That is adorable. Also, my first appearance on Random Pursuit was with Scott.
EE: [laughs] Oh right, it was.
SW: It was.
EE: That’s right. You, you got to meet my cousin.
SW: Yeah, I got to meet the nepo baby.
EE: Yep. [both laugh] Absolutely.
SW: That is so
EE: No shame.
SW: lovely.
EE: I feel no shame in that, in that particular nepotism.
SW: No, not at all. Oh, thank you so much, Erika
EE: Thank you
SW: for sharing that. I just I love hearing how joyful it makes you. And I love hearing how nerdy you are about it. [Erika laughs] I love it, absolutely love it. So, something I’d like to do at the, at the end of my episodes in this show… One thing is, something I call Small Joys. So I would like to know, what’s something that you do or that you have that lifts your spirits when you need it?
EE: Ooh. That’s— Okay, it would be too cheesy to say my spouse. So I’m going to pick something different [laughs] because
SW: You could say that…
EE: Nope. You know what? That would be rude. Because that’s not small. That’s a big joy.
SW: That’s fair.
EE: Yup, mm-hm. A small joy… You know, okay, this, this is cheesy but it’s, it’s podcasts. Not just any podcasts, but, like, a podcast by a person that I know. And honestly, most of the podcasts I listen to [Sandra laughs] are by people that I know. But, like, if I am having, like, a really bad day, sometimes putting on an old game show episode that’s hosted by somebody else on The Incomparable, or maybe someday it’ll be, like, this episode…
SW: Right [laughs]
EE: of, of this podcast and just, you know, listening to an episode, whether I was on it or not. But that’s, that’s people that I care about talking about something that makes them either happy or angry. [both laugh] Like, as long as they’re, as long as they’re emoting and like, having fun with each other, doing, you know, talking about it.
SW: Yeah.
EE: That is, that is one of the most surefire ways to sort of bring myself up when I need a little boost.
SW: Yeah, I love that. Thank you for sharing that. That’s something that I like to do. I’m, I’m really only on one social media platform now, and it’s Bluesky, and I just, like, I’m always, like, shoving things into the small joys hashtag…feed. [laughs]
EE: Nice.
SW: Because I just think we need to have more joy in the world
EE: Hear, hear
SW: however we find it, right? So that’s a thing. And while I’m on the subject of joys, I just want to say, if anyone listening is a completionist, we are not judging.
EE: Oh no, not at all.
SW: We are not saying that that is bad. [both laugh] We are saying if that works for you, yes, go for it. And sometimes for some of us, it doesn’t work for us any longer. And then we, we do things differently, that’s all. So I don’t want anyone to feel…
EE: Yes.
SW: to feel like we are, you know, saying that there’s something wrong
EE: [agreeing] Oh no.
SW: with how anyone lives their life.
EE: In fact, I am, like, I am always really impressed by people who are completionists about stuff and can actually find the physical space or the mental space for whatever that is. So yes, I’m glad you pointed that out, because I wouldn’t want anybody to think that I was judgy.
SW: Yeah. And, people, Erika is not like that at all.
EE: Nope.
SW: Yeah. Okay. So, this is definitely getting to the end. So, what I like to do at the end, is what I call a Speed Round.
EE: Mm-mm
SW: [singsongy] Surprise! Okay, so this is where I give you, Erika, a choice of two options at a time. You answer off the top of your head.
EE: Okay.
SW: There’s no judgments, no second guessing. There’s no right or wrong answers [both laugh]
EE: All right.
SW: just silliness. [laughs]
EE: Okay, I like it.
SW: Okay. Are you ready?
EE: Mm-hm!
SW: Okay, I’m rubbing my hands in glee. Okay. Here we go. Popcorn or potato chips?
EE: Potato chips.
SW: Mm. Jelly beans or jujubes?
EE: I don’t remember what jujubes are like. I’m going to say, neither because I just don’t like that kind of, that, that chewy stuff, ewww.
SW: So okay, no chewy things. Okay, then. Sweet or savoury?
EE: Savoury.
SW: Savoury, hm. Night owl or early bird?
EE: Night owl. [both laugh] What… What is this word, early..?
SW: The way…the way she just rolled her eyes, friends. Okay. Okay. Continuing. Socks or bare feet?
EE: Socks. [both crack up] Very passionate about that one.
SW: I love it. Okay, okay. Ocean voyage or mountain cabin?
EE: Ocean voyage? Or better, beach.
SW: Oh-h-h.
EE: [laughs] Just a beach.
SW: I like that, I like that. Okay, we’ve got two more. Fine dining or drive thru?
EE: Drive thru.
SW: Drive thru!
EE: Yep.
SW: I love it. [both laugh]
EE: I wanted to go to McDonald’s for, for prom, and I was shot down.
SW: [sympathetic] O-h-h-h.
EE: We did pizza at a friend’s house instead, so it was okay.
SW: Okay, I was going to ask the name of your prom date, but that’s fine. [Erika laughs] I’ll just leave that. Okay. And the last one. Mild or spicy?
EE: Spi-cyyyyy? [both laugh] Let’s, I mean—
SW: I’ll take it.
EE: Let’s just put it this way. I wish I could do spicy as well as some, as other people do.
SW: Yeah.
EE: Mm-hmm.
SW: Well, congratulations, Erika Ensign [laughs]
EE: Thank you.
SW: You have survived our little chat. I’m so, so grateful that you said yes [laughs]
EE: Me, too.
SW: to, to this funny little show and just also to helping me. So thank you so much for being here.
EE: Thank you for allowing me to help.
SW: Okay. So, if people want to find out more about you and your podcast work, where’s the best place they can, they can go look you up?
EE: Probably the best place right now is to go to the incomparable dot com slash person [theincomparable.com/person] and then like, and then look for Erika Ensign. You can just, you know, control-F that. Almost all of my podcasts right now that are currently active are on The Incomparable network. So you will find all of the podcast stuff that I do. I’m also on Mastodon, but that is a platform that I know not a ton of people are on. But if you are, I am holly go darkly at wandering dot shop. [hollygodarkly@wandering.shop]
SW: Cool, thank you so much.
EE: Thank you.
SW: Okay, and then, of course, people, if you’re interested in Trivial Pursuit, just, you know, do a search. You can find it pretty easily. [laughs]
EE: Yup. True.
SW: Great. So what I will probably try to do is put in relevant links in the show notes for this episode, as well as on my web page. So, my website is sgwong.com and I have a podcast page on there for We Contain Multitudes and you’ll find some links on there, too. So thank you so much for joining us, lovelies. Until next time, create joy for yourself and others, however works for you because…we contain multitudes.
[jazzy jumpin’ music]SW: We Contain Multitudes is on The Incomparable network of smart and funny pop culture podcasts where members can access exclusive podcasts and a wonderful community. Find out more at theincomparable.com.
Special thanks, as always, to Erika Ensign, our editrix extraordinaire of Castria Communications. Award-winning excellence in podcast production and media solutions. Check them out at wearecastria.com.
[music fades]Robotic voice: The incomparable podcast network. Become a member and support this show today. theincomparable.com/members
[digital blip sound]SHOW NOTES:
Find Erika on The Incomparable – https://www.theincomparable.com/person/erika-ensign/
Random Pursuit game show – https://www.theincomparable.com/gameshow/trivia/
Five Facts About Trivial Pursuit – https://www.historymuseum.ca/blog/five-amazing-facts-about-trivial-pursuit-the-most-successful-canadian-board-game-of-all-time
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ICYMI: What does it mean to be famous? – https://sgwong.com/blog/what-does-it-mean-to-be-famous/)