Sevan Matossian (00:00):
For me to tell you how great my life is. <laugh> it? It would be, it would be, it would be rude.
Casey Acree (00:06):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (00:07):
Yeah. It’s so fucking good.
Casey Acree (00:10):
Same.
Sevan Matossian (00:11):
Good. Not tell anyone. Just make them feel bad about themselves. Yeah. Some people coach Casey acry their lives are so fucked up that it could be raining titties and they still catch a Dick.
Casey Acree (00:31):
<laugh> one of the greatest quotes ever
Sevan Matossian (00:35):
Coffee. Oh. Oh, you know what, Caleb? I did try to send you the notes. How about that? Bam. Okay. Uh, guys, I really wanted to have Justin Maderas on, but the DEI council, the Seon podcast said I had to have one dude from the adaptive and uh, one black dude and one Jewish dude before I started having superstars on. So I gotta get Casey Ari the way I’m so fucking, sorry. <laugh> this guy’s only one. The games twice. Uh, fuck him. Oh shit. We’re live. Oh, I didn’t even see you were there, Casey. Hi. Sorry. I didn’t mean damn. We’re live, dude. Look at your, look at your shirt
Casey Acree (01:17):
Branding.
Sevan Matossian (01:18):
So dope.
Casey Acree (01:19):
That’s called branding.
Sevan Matossian (01:21):
Hey, you don’t you, you made this crazy video that said like you have four things that are more important than training it really, it really concerned me. And I’m like, you, you remind me of this UFC fighter, uh, James Crouse. Do you know who that is?
Casey Acree (01:35):
No, I don’t. I don’t follow USC very closely. Unfortunately
Sevan Matossian (01:39):
He, he, uh, one of his fighters just became world champion. I forget who, who became world champion last week or did really good. Do you remember Caleb? Any anyway, um, he’s a fighter. He like had six fights in a row without losing he’s in the 171 pound class. And he said it would be cooler for him to have one of his fighters when a championship than for him. I was like, oh no. Has Casey fallen into that trap of being a good dude?
Casey Acree (02:08):
No, I don’t think it’s a trap. True. It’s just true.
Sevan Matossian (02:13):
And why is that? Why, why not? Why not just focus on yourself, win, like, you know, another three in a row, uh, the four in a row tie Tia, and then, and then be like, okay, who’s wants to be the protege.
Casey Acree (02:25):
Well, um, first off I can’t make enough money being an athlete for it to be the number one priority in my life. So it can’t be my full time job. So something else has to take priority there. Um, and you know, I, I get just as much value out of those other things. Um, just kind of as far as just fulfilling what I like to do and, and, um, you know, what I value in my day to day of being a dad and a husband and a coach and getting to be creative and some of my, some of the things that I do, um, as being an athlete. So that’s why it, it kind of falls a little bit lower on the pecking order, I guess.
Sevan Matossian (03:12):
Um, sorry. I think it was Brandon Marino, uh, Caleb. It was brand Marino. I, I wonder if you would’ve been like that before you had kids. I bet you, you have a son, right?
Casey Acree (03:25):
Yeah. I have a son. I have a three year old son and a three month old daughter.
Sevan Matossian (03:29):
Holy cow. Wow. Congratulations is, is, is, um, do, do you think that that probably changed everything if you didn’t have a kid, you didn’t have, you didn’t have a, uh, two kids, it’d be more about the KCA acry show.
Casey Acree (03:43):
Yeah, probably a little bit. Um, I mean, I definitely, I think having kids changes everything. Um, but I, I mean, still, even then from a practical standpoint, I would still have to worry and focus more on, on running my business and, and being a coach and doing the things that, that make a living. Cuz I, you know, like I said, there’s just not enough money and adaptive CrossFit for it to be a full-time job. Like it is for Tia or Justin or some of those people.
Sevan Matossian (04:18):
Um, uh, what’s the name of your business?
Casey Acree (04:21):
Uh, so I am the part owner called summit systems. So we have a gym, we do, uh, individualized coaching as well as remote coaching.
Sevan Matossian (04:35):
Are you pulling that up, Caleb? Hey, um, why, why, so, um, what screamed at me right there was, you’re saying that, do you strictly do adaptive athletes? Why not just do everything everyone?
Casey Acree (04:47):
No, I don’t strictly do adaptive athletes. We do. We do. I have more clients that are, uh, more clients that are able bodied or just kind of normal general population, uh, clients than I do adaptive athletes.
Sevan Matossian (05:04):
And, and every time you win the games, it must be whether it should be or not, it’s gotta be a feather in your, in, in your cap. Right. I mean to win the CrossFit games twice is pretty fucking nutty.
Casey Acree (05:18):
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I would say yes, it does help me as a coach and uh, and that kind of thing as far as just having legitimacy with, with adaptive athletes and with, with all athletes, really? Yeah, for sure.
Sevan Matossian (05:33):
Who are these dudes, Cameron and, uh, who is the other guy?
Casey Acree (05:36):
Cameron and Kyler. Those are my, those are my best friends and business partners.
Sevan Matossian (05:42):
I think there’s a guy in the comments at Gentry a Travis is, is Travis related to them?
Casey Acree (05:46):
I don’t think so,
Sevan Matossian (05:49):
But maybe
Casey Acree (05:50):
Not that I know of.
Sevan Matossian (05:52):
Um, and, and where are you based out of?
Casey Acree (05:54):
Um, our gym is in Decatur, Illinois.
Sevan Matossian (05:57):
Oh,
Casey Acree (06:00):
You came here once
Sevan Matossian (06:01):
I did. You came to no. Is that the one that I don’t think I did? I think Greg did. Did I come with him? Is
Casey Acree (06:07):
Yeah, Greg did so that I work at that gym. That’s where I, I was the manager and head coach of that hospital gym.
Sevan Matossian (06:15):
Oh shit. Wow. What a small world. <laugh>
Casey Acree (06:20):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (06:21):
Okay. Explain that Jim, to me for PE re-explain it to me refresh my memory. And so that people at, at a home know this is a great story.
Casey Acree (06:29):
Yeah. So Decatur, Illinois is home to the first ever I believe hospital CrossFit affiliate, um, its called CrossFit enhance. It was originally opened by DEC Memorial hospital. Um, by the, the president of the ti at the time of the hospital was Ken Smith Meer. Um, and so it opened in 2000 or eight or 2009. Um, and so yeah, it was owned by hospital. It wasn’t owned by any one individual as a part of, as a, well really initially started as a wellness program for employees only. It wasn’t even open to the public. It was a free, basically a free wellness offering for employees eventually opened up to the public. Um, grew to be pretty large. It was whenever I was, I was the head coach and manager there from February of 2017 until January of 2020. And we had for stretches there over 300 members in our gym.
Sevan Matossian (07:30):
Crazy.
Casey Acree (07:30):
Yeah. Yeah. And unfortunately that, that gym has since closed permanently.
Sevan Matossian (07:36):
No shit was that, uh, one of the responses to COVID
Casey Acree (07:40):
It was kind of a result of COVID they were being, being affiliated with the hospital. They were much stricter about, uh, you know, being open. So the state mandated that Jims were closed from like March 13th until June 2nd or something like that of, of 2020. Um, and then even when, even when gyms were allowed to reopen the hospital, wasn’t really allowing for it for, for CrossFit enhanced to have classes. And that eventually led to, um, you know, they just decided that they were, they were paying for something that wasn’t really, uh, providing value anymore. So they, they closed it in February of 2021.
Sevan Matossian (08:23):
Can you imagine closing a CrossFit Jim, because you think it’s not providing value?
Casey Acree (08:29):
Yeah. I mean, without getting too much without getting too much into it at some point, uh, actually even before, before I started working there, um, the people that were in charge, it was no longer Ken Smith Meyer who was originally opened. It, it was, uh, the, the administration changed and the, the value that they felt it held, uh, wasn’t, wasn’t very high.
Sevan Matossian (08:56):
I’d love to see pictures of those people who decided that. And I’d love to judge the fuck out of ’em based on what they looked like.
Casey Acree (09:03):
Yeah, yeah. You would, it would probably, it would probably make you go crazy.
Sevan Matossian (09:07):
Yeah. I can see them already in my eye. Yeah. <laugh> in, in my, in my third eye or fourth eye or whatever that thing is called. Yeah. To fucking nuts. Hey I, and is that why you opened yours? You’re like you open your own training program. You’re like, okay, not, this is
Casey Acree (09:22):
No, I actually, well, yeah. I mean, yes, eventually it was, uh, many things as the, as the head coaching owner feeling like you didn’t really have or head coach and manager, um, didn’t really have a lot of support from the administration and you, I was very, uh, no, no pun intended. I was very handcuffed on what we could do there. Um,
Sevan Matossian (09:44):
And Hey, even what you could say,
Casey Acree (09:46):
What’s that
Sevan Matossian (09:47):
Even you were even handcuffed on what you could do, but also what you could say. Yeah.
Casey Acree (09:51):
Yeah. I mean, really
Sevan Matossian (09:53):
Honestly, you couldn’t be like, Hey, don’t worry about what they told you about type two diabetes. I got you do this.
Casey Acree (09:58):
Uh,
Sevan Matossian (09:58):
You couldn’t say that.
Casey Acree (10:00):
Yeah. Like there was, it was very, you had to be very careful about what type of authority we tried to hold as, as, uh, you know, uh, I don’t know what you
Sevan Matossian (10:11):
Wanna call. You’re not the doctors there,
Casey Acree (10:13):
People that were trying to help people be healthy.
Sevan Matossian (10:16):
Yeah. Yeah. Um,
Casey Acree (10:17):
And so, and, and yeah, I mean that on top of being the only, the only full-time employee in a gym with 300 members and all of our other staff was, was per diem, basically like part-time. And, um, we ran, we ran 13 or 14 classes a day that were 45 minutes long. And so there was, there was definitely some coaching burnout, um, not a lot of resources. Mm-hmm, <affirmative> like as a coach, as someone who I, you know, I, I came into the profession of, you know, wanting to be a professional coach. Um, I just felt limited on what I could do there. So, um, in January of 2020, I had the opportunity to, um, open up just like a small, small kind of private deal. Um, and I, and I took it, I was able to get into a place that was, um, pretty cheap and just kind of started, you know, building, building up our clientele, um, from the, from the ground up basically.
Sevan Matossian (11:18):
Are you affiliated?
Casey Acree (11:19):
Not,
Sevan Matossian (11:21):
No. And what’s the name of the gym again? Summit.
Casey Acree (11:24):
Yep.
Sevan Matossian (11:26):
Sorry, say that again. For some reason I can’t talk over you. And that’s like one of my favorite things to do every time we used to talk at the same time it goes silent. Tell me the name again. Sorry.
Casey Acree (11:34):
Summit systems. S U M M I T S Y
Sevan Matossian (11:38):
SMS. Why do you call it that?
Casey Acree (11:41):
Um, <laugh> it actually has to do with, uh, the, the town that me and my, uh, friends grew up in is it is called Harris town, Illinois, just outside of Decatur, about a thousand people. Um, it, before it became officially Harris town long, long ago. Uh, that’s a really good, my, my business partner made that me and that’s really, that’s really funny.
Sevan Matossian (12:07):
I like it <laugh>,
Casey Acree (12:09):
Our town was called summit. That was like a, a temporary name for it back in like the 18 hundreds before it became an affiliated town. And so we would jokingly, when we were growing up, we would jokingly call our hometown summit. And so since we were all from the same place when we were, when we were creating our business, uh, we wanted that to be a part of it, cuz we’re all like kind of proud of like our small town, you know, roots or whatever.
Sevan Matossian (12:38):
It’s funny when I, when I typed in summit, uh, Illinois into Google, the first thing that popped up was a place called Portillo’s hotdogs. <laugh>
Casey Acree (12:47):
That? That is, that makes more sense. Anything that has to do with Illinois is, is hot dogs or fast food or something along those lines.
Sevan Matossian (12:58):
Okay. You’re you’re uh, you’re just outside of Chicago.
Casey Acree (13:02):
No. So that what you’re seeing there is, is not what is you? You need to look up Harris town, Illinois.
Sevan Matossian (13:09):
Okay. Okay. Okay. Oh, okay. I see Decatur down there. Yeah. I see Decatur down there.
Casey Acree (13:16):
Middle of nowhere.
Sevan Matossian (13:18):
When you say middle of nowhere, when you go to like every day, do you see farm animals? Like if you drive to the store, do you see farm animals somewhere? Like, do you live like that? Yes. The country
Casey Acree (13:27):
I now actually I now live in IOPS, Illinois, which is directly in between Decatur and Springfield basically. So there’s kind of like the two bigger towns and yeah. Polis has 1100 people I think. And so the first thing, yeah. I, I, to get, to get to work every day. I’m just driving through past the cornfield basically. Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (13:49):
Is that town Springfield? Is that the Simpsons town?
Casey Acree (13:52):
No, it’s not.
Sevan Matossian (13:55):
Is that where Carl Eagleman lives? Do you know who that is? The guy he, he, he does the, um, drawings. He, uh, on Instagram of like positions, overhead squat. He’s like a big old dude, like 6, 7, 6, 8.
Casey Acree (14:09):
I don’t think so. It doesn’t sound familiar Springfield though. A lot of people think in Chicago, but Springfield’s the capital.
Sevan Matossian (14:23):
Oh, okay. Okay. Are you tell, where were you born? Uh, Casey.
Casey Acree (14:28):
I was born in Decatur, so I’m, I’m, I’ve been here pretty much my whole life.
Sevan Matossian (14:34):
And, and you were born with, uh, your arm exact with your arm exactly the way it is today?
Casey Acree (14:39):
Yes. Yes.
Sevan Matossian (14:42):
Um, when you, when you’re do they, do your parents know that before you come out?
Casey Acree (14:46):
Yes. They could tell in like the sonograms or whatever that at some point, some stage along the way, my arm just basically stopped developing. I think there’s a way to find out exactly why we’re not, I don’t really know why. Um, it could have been something physical, obstructed the growth of it while I was in the womb or something like that. Um, but not really sure. Why
Sevan Matossian (15:12):
Could, could I see it? Yeah, the end. And then, and then where could you point? Oh, so your elbow’s on. Okay. So your elbow’s still there.
Casey Acree (15:20):
My, so I have a little bit of my forearm
Sevan Matossian (15:22):
Uhhuh,
Casey Acree (15:22):
So I have an elbow joint where I can, you know, hold on to stuff right in
Sevan Matossian (15:27):
There. Yeah. Um, when you had your kids, did that go through your brain? Like, oh, I wonder if this is gonna be passed on,
Casey Acree (15:38):
Um, a little bit, but I knew that it’s not something that’s genetic. So, I mean, I kind of think, thought about that, but there’s no evidence would suggest that it’s like a, a inherited trait. It’s more, it’s something more, uh, physical or, or mechanical in the developmental process than it is something that’s a genetic, uh, you know, connection or something.
Sevan Matossian (16:02):
And, and they have, they have no theory, like the umbilical cord was wrapped around the arm there or like they have no,
Casey Acree (16:07):
Uh, I mean that, that could have been it that’s, I think something that, that happens commonly. Um, I, yeah, I there’s prob there’s plenty of theories, but at least back then, as far as I know, there wasn’t any way to pinpoint exactly what the mechanism was.
Sevan Matossian (16:24):
I, I, I, and then, and then when you come, when you’re born, are your parents concerned that other things would be missing too? Like, like your frontal lobe or something that’s like important?
Casey Acree (16:33):
No. Um, because there, I, I guess as far as the doctors were able to tell them everything else was normal, as far as, you know, growth and head shape and organs and everything else was normal, it was just that my arm just stopped growing at some point.
Sevan Matossian (16:51):
Is, is that, do you know Kyle Maynard?
Casey Acree (16:53):
Kyle Maynard? I don’t think so.
Sevan Matossian (16:56):
He, um, he owned a CrossFit gym and he had no arms and no legs and I oh,
Casey Acree (17:02):
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Sevan Matossian (17:05):
And he was born like that.
Casey Acree (17:07):
Yeah. Yeah. I think that, like, in some of those cases, I know, um, like certain medications, like if the, if, uh, the mom is taking certain medications, sometimes that can be, uh, uh, an issue with developmental growth or growth or, um, so yeah. I don’t know. I, I honestly, I don’t really know or have never really dug deeper into why these things happen. I’ve never really been too concerned or, or cared too much, cuz I’ve always had the mindset of like, it is what it is.
Sevan Matossian (17:47):
He, um, uh, Greg went to a, um, Greg Lastman and Kyle went to a, oh, it’s slipping my mind right now, but it’s one of those, um, organizations that looks after vets who have been injured.
Casey Acree (18:02):
Okay.
Sevan Matossian (18:04):
It’s just, it’s the famous one. It’s the big one. Uh, anyway. And, and, and Greg and Kyle walk into the room and it’s a room full of, you know, 300 dudes and all the dudes are missing something. Right? Yeah. And Kyle gets up in front of the whole room and he says to the, the, the room, God, and this dude’s got no arms and no legs. And he says, God, I feel sorry for Greg tells me this. Kyle goes, God, I feel sorry for you guys sucks. And he goes, he goes BA and Greg said like, no one else could have said that. Right. And he goes, yeah, I was born like this. Yep. I can’t imagine what it was like to fucking lose, uh, having that. And I was just like, holy shit. That, and, and this guy’s a professional speaker too. He knows what he is doing, but oh yeah. Yeah. Wounded warrior project. Thank you. Thank you, Caleb.
Casey Acree (18:53):
Yeah, I say that all the time. I, I say that all the time I compete with, with and against guys that are, that that’s their situation. They had an injury. They, they, you know, had their entire life knowing having two arms and then they have an injury like Logan, Logan Aldridge is a good example of that lost his arm and an accident when he was 13 years old or whatever, and had to had to relearn everything. Um, so I tell people all the time, I’m, I’m one of the lucky ones that I’ve, this is all I’ve ever known. So I’ve just been able to learn how to do life and how to do everything with just having one hand. So,
Sevan Matossian (19:27):
Um, are, are you right-handed or left-handed
Casey Acree (19:30):
Right-handed
Sevan Matossian (19:32):
Do you know that for certain?
Casey Acree (19:35):
Uh, well, no
Sevan Matossian (19:37):
Problem. I don’t even and not, and it, and it begs to question like how anyone knows,
Casey Acree (19:41):
Right? Yeah. I don’t know I’m left footed, but so I, there, there was some time that I thought maybe I was supposed to be lefthanded. Um, but I think that candidness is a little bit more like ingrained and genetic, whereas your foot dominance is something that’s learned a little bit more mm-hmm <affirmative>. And so what my mom tells me is that when I was like a kid or like a toddler, when you’re like, you know, you just sit and play with stuff. She said, I would use my left foot a lot, basically like in place of my left hand, mm-hmm
Sevan Matossian (20:16):
<affirmative>
Casey Acree (20:17):
With a toy sitting down on the floor and I’m using my right hand. And then I’m using my, like my left foot. And I have really good, like pedal dexterity in my left foot as well. I can like move my toes really well and grab stuff. And so she always said, that’s why she thinks that I eventually became left foot is cuz I was so used to using my, my left foot for things growing up. And that that’s something that’s a little bit more environmental than it is inherited or whatever
Sevan Matossian (20:43):
Do you skateboard?
Casey Acree (20:44):
I used to
Sevan Matossian (20:45):
Do. Are you, are you goofy or are you regular?
Casey Acree (20:48):
I am goofy.
Sevan Matossian (20:49):
Right. And, and, but are you comfortable regular? No. No, you’re not. Okay. Wow. Okay. I,
Casey Acree (20:55):
I can hardly like, I can hardly keep myself on a skateboard if I try to go regular Uhhuh, but I’m, I’m fairly proficient if I’m, if I go goofy, I’m goofy. I’m goofy Mongo. I don’t know if, do you know what that term is?
Sevan Matossian (21:09):
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I UN unfortunately I do. I spend way too much time at this skate park and I don’t even skate.
Casey Acree (21:15):
I’m like the 0.1% of skateboarders I’m goofy Mongo.
Sevan Matossian (21:20):
Wow. Hey, no one tried to break you of the Mongo habit.
Casey Acree (21:25):
No, I just taught myself how to, I just, yeah, that’s what I do.
Sevan Matossian (21:30):
Yeah. What a trip.
Casey Acree (21:31):
I just learned it and that’s what felt right. I put my left foot on the back quarter of the board. I kick with my right foot. And then whenever I go to ride, I put my right foot on and then I move my left foot to the tail.
Sevan Matossian (21:45):
Damn. That’s hard core
Casey Acree (21:46):
<laugh> it’s just I, yeah. And then I, eventually I realized that I was doing something weird. I just took, I just had to see some other people doing stuff where they were actually starting with their, their front foot on the board kicking with their back foot. And I could never, I could like never relearn how to do it.
Sevan Matossian (22:03):
My kids, uh, one of my kids is he doesn’t know what he is. He’s been skating for a year and he, he switches between regular and goofy. And my seven year old is now just learning. Um, he’s goofy, but he’s learning regular. Yeah. And, and it’s a trip. I mean, kudos to anyone it’s like trying to learn how to, uh, uh, write with your other hand.
Casey Acree (22:25):
Yeah. I’m sure. I, yeah, I, uh, my son is kind of figuring out he’s got a little bit of like ambidextrousness.
Sevan Matossian (22:36):
Yep.
Casey Acree (22:36):
And when he swings a bat or swings a golf club, he swings it lefty.
Sevan Matossian (22:40):
Yeah.
Casey Acree (22:40):
Which I actually, I probably should also, but I always learned how to swing righty. Cause I just did older brother did
Sevan Matossian (22:47):
Uhhuh
Casey Acree (22:48):
And so I, I can’t swing lefty. So I’m like trying to learn how to like help him do these swings in the direction that I’m not used to doing. Which interesting.
Sevan Matossian (23:02):
I, um, I, I try to have my kids do everything with both hands. Yeah. Like, so every day, even if it’s just for five minutes, I just take a bag of balls. Yeah. And, and I just say, Hey, throw right. And left handed to me every day. Yeah. Or, you know, stay, kick these, kick these balls with your left foot and right foot. I think it it’s such a, um, I think it alters your perspective on the world. The more ability you have to in a good way, the more ability you have to interact with it.
Casey Acree (23:31):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (23:32):
For sure. When, um, as is, um, there’s, there’s some point in your life. I, I guess I I’m assuming it happens to everyone, but someone finds something about themselves that, um, that they don’t like. And I’m guessing that most of the times it’s because they’re different, you know? And it could be like the girl whose boobs get so big, it makes her self conscious. Or it could be the dude whose noses get so big. Um, I like, I never even knew I was short until I went to college. Believe it or not. But like my, I see my kids, one of my kids has already like recognized that he’s short.
Casey Acree (24:07):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (24:08):
Um, and it, I, I guess it’s, well, I guess I never thought of it until I heard you talk. I heard, uh, max Hajj ask you about it when you became aware that wait something’s on me is different.
Casey Acree (24:24):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (24:26):
But it’s kind of weird. It’s a huge moment for all human beings, because then all it’s like you it’s like, I guess one of the first times you reflect on yourself, you don’t reflect on yourself when something’s good. I think all of our memories are we reflect on ourselves when something’s bad. Right. I mean our initial ones.
Casey Acree (24:43):
Yeah. Probably.
Sevan Matossian (24:45):
Um, you’re never, like, my parents are so great. They took me to Disneyland. It’s always like, oh fuck. I only got one arm
Casey Acree (24:50):
<laugh> well, I mean, yeah. Maybe until you kind of work through those things and then you can, right.
Casey Acree (24:56):
You know, like, yeah. I mean, I, a hundred percent, cause I, obviously what you’re referring to is like, at some point in my life, when I was a kid, I was like, wait, I’m different. Yeah. And something must be wrong with me. And it, you, I can remember times of being angry and like wanting to be just like everybody else. But then now I can also reflect on the age that I eventually kind of, I don’t know, transcended that or realize that my differences could actually be a strength or, you know, what did I get out of those things? So I, I don’t know, maybe, maybe yes. You kind of have both ends of it, of, of if you eventually get to that point of being able to work through whatever those, those self-perceived issues are, um, that then maybe you can also reflect on the quote. Good, good things. I guess.
Sevan Matossian (25:51):
Did some other kid point out to you or did you realize it like, like when you have a big, no, someone else gotta pointed out to you? You know what I mean?
Casey Acree (26:00):
I, I mean, it was obviously I knew, but I think I had some self-awareness at a pretty young age. Um, I was hyper competitive, probably too competitive in some things. So
Sevan Matossian (26:14):
Like at what age? At what age? Like at three already?
Casey Acree (26:18):
Uh, yeah, four or five years old. Like I guess maybe it was from having an older brother that was already like active and played sports and stuff like that. That, you know, I just was trying to do the things that he was doing and I couldn’t sometimes. And so there were definitely some times of frustration there. Um, and yeah, like in school there would be, you know, kids would make fun of me or, you know, call me, I remember one kid in my neighborhood. He started calling me Stuy <laugh> and it made me
Sevan Matossian (26:46):
Mad. Good. That’s really original.
Casey Acree (26:48):
Yeah. I know. I’m like, what does that even, how did I let that maybe I should have, I should have been wiser as a five year old, but I’m like, how did I let that kid get me frustrated calling me something so stupid as stumpy <laugh>. But yeah, I mean, there were, there were times of frustration and self doubt and like wanting for things to be different and being a little bit angry and, and you know, all those things, which I think everyone can go through for different reasons. Like you, like you said, everyone kind of eventually has something that they, that they look back at.
Sevan Matossian (27:29):
There’s something about the human brain that struggles with the, uh, uh I’m and I’m sure there’s there’s studies on it that has troubles processing a limb missing, like from the outsider. It’s so it’s so, um, you’re you’re so, so, so I, I, I, I, uh, a guy I rolled up to a car accident, one time a dude, a dude purposely drove his car into a crowd and he killed five people.
Casey Acree (28:02):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (28:03):
And I was in the, and I walked up to it and I was going around checking on the people. Yeah. And the people didn’t look human to me anymore. Like their bodies were fucking mangled. Yeah. And I remember my brain doing some weird shit that I can’t even explain Uhhuh. Like I couldn’t, I couldn’t process the way they were twisted up.
Casey Acree (28:21):
Right.
Sevan Matossian (28:21):
And so, you know, like me and you were walking past each other in the grocery store and I have, it’s like the same, like a three-legged dog, right? Yeah. Like you have to take a double take.
Casey Acree (28:33):
Yes.
Sevan Matossian (28:33):
Or, or it’s your instant reaction because something it’s, it’s like a, I used to take pictures of bugs and, and you would look at a Bush and no one would see the bugs, but I would sit there and I would take like 20 deep breaths. And then all of a sudden the bugs are what don’t fit in. The pattern. Plants have like crazy patterns to ’em. Yeah. And then all of a sudden, once you realize, oh fuck, there’s a thousand bugs in here that I never saw at first, but they don’t, they don’t work in the pattern they’re trying to fit in, but they don’t
Casey Acree (28:58):
<laugh>.
Sevan Matossian (28:58):
Yeah. You’re like, he motherfucker, I see you now. You know what I mean? They have their own fucked up pattern. That’s different than the plan. And, um, it must be like that everywhere you go, like everyone who sees you has to reprocess that that was a dude with one arm, right? Yeah.
Casey Acree (29:12):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (29:12):
I think I, I mean, do you do that to people when you see someone like with one leg, do you feel your brain do that? Like yes,
Casey Acree (29:18):
Absolutely. And that’s what I tell people is like, I’ve, I’ve had people like ask me or, you know, parents, parents get worried that their kids are gonna offend you or, or something like that by looking or by being curious. And I’m like, I am around people that are missing limbs all the time. And still whenever I see it in a, in a environment that I don’t, I’m not expecting it. Yeah. Absolutely. Like I’ll double take. It’s like, like you mentioned, it’s just your natural human instinct. When you see something that feels like it doesn’t fit to what you are used to seeing. And so I, yeah, absolutely. Every everywhere that I go in public, you can, you can feel it. You can see.
The above transcript is generated using AI technology and therefore may contain errors.
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