Continuing our discussion of college, I veered the two into the tougher moments outside of school.

PK: What do you say to students who are going to get this position, where they’re going to have to get odd jobs, they’re going to struggle to find their way? Do you say pick up and move on?

OB: “I say, enjoy the process. Some of my happiest days were being a janitor, doing the open mics. Enjoy the hunger of it, because there’s no end. I mean, some of our best friends are A-list movie stars and they’re still searching for the next thing. It never ends, so you can’t view it as a line with a beginning and an end – once you get somewhere you’re there. It’s like just look at all human existence. At some point people were like, ‘what’s in Greenland?’. You just keep moving, even if you’re like, in a good place, human nature is to expand – so enjoy the ride, it never stops.

AA: “It’s an expedition, not a race…just enjoy the sights of it all and the experience of it all.

In that moment, I felt like some cosmic weight had been lifted off my shoulder – or briefly tilted. I’ve always thought of life as this road, this track, and you had points you needed to be at or things would fall apart. I believed the ‘hunger’ was a sign of wrong doing, that searching for the next thing meant you didn’t find your designated thing. But if this journey never really ends, then there isn’t a ‘wrong’ road or one road. Things get better or worse, but within in you find moments of content and pleasure. And that can make it all worth it.

The Art of Being a Boy

AA: “..some of my best years were waiting tables. I made a lot of money waiting tables, I was 24 years old making like, $80,000 a year as a waiter.”

OB: “And you’re getting like, women that you shouldn’t get. Because, you know, they’re usually celebrating birthdays and s**t, shots on the house…”

AA: “And then next thing you know – bad decisions happen.”

OB: “Yeah, we survived on bad decisions for many years.”

This is where Ahmed burst out in the loudest laugh throughout the interview. Both of them have been laughing periodically as they both say funny things to themselves and each other.

PK: Is that a positive message?

OB: “It is.”

AA: “Oh, yes.”

OB: “This is to all the guys out there. You can get women out of your league, if you just wait for them to make bad choices.

AA: “You just got to be there at the right time.”

PK: Not, ‘You’re worth more men, just shoot for the best’?

OB: “Nah, you got to just get what you can get. Don’t ask questions. She just got out of an angry relationship, that’s fine. Don’t ask too many questions.”

AA: “Going through a divorce? Come here,honey.

OB: “ She just got promoted, and her mom didn’t answer the call – whatever you need to get through the night.”

AA: “Last boyfriend said you were ugly, I think you’re hot.”

OB: “ A pipe broke in her apartment and she needs a place to crash, whatever works.”

AA: “Fix that flat tire.”

While this is not my philosophy on how men who tend to find women out of their league should be behave, it was interesting perspective. The idea that guys are aware of their ‘hotness’ and come up with schemes to attain those ‘hotter’ than them was something I did not know.

I’ll be on the lookout for that now. Thanks for the heads up.