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December 1, 2021 23 mins

Gina Finio 

 

Rom-coms and fairy tales leave us believing that true love is both fated and eternal. But what really happens after the happily ever after? Gina’s upbeat, authentic, and realistic take on the lack of real-life fairytale endings for couples is both fascinating and relatable. We love the way she finds the beauty (and humor) in moving on, making anybody who’s been through--or is in the midst of--a breakup feel a lot less alone. Featuring a variety of real-life stories from guests of every walk of life, this show has potential to captivate a big audience by focusing on an experience almost anyone can relate to: heartbreak.

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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Season two of The Next Great Podcast. My
Heart Radio and Tongle have once again teamed up to
bring you another round of amazing and unique voices. We're
excited to share these ten incredible podcasts with you and
need your help crowning the winner. Check out the pilots
and be sure to vote for your favorite at Next
Great podcast dot com. Today's entry is Yeah that Didn't

(00:31):
work Out by Gina Finia. Rom Coms and fairy tales
leave us believing that true love is both faded and eternal,
or what really happens after the Happily ever After. Gina's upbeat, authentic,
and realistic take on the lack of real life fairytale
endings for couples is both fascinating and relatable. We love
the way she finds the beauty and humor and moving on,

(00:52):
making anybody who's been through or is in the midst
of a breakup feel a lot less alone. Featuring a
variety of real stories from guests of every walk of life,
this show has the potential to captivate a big audience
by focusing on an experience almost anyone can relate to heartbreak. Hey,

(01:17):
I'm Gina from Tucson, Arizona, and you're listening to the
pilot of Yeah That Didn't Work Out as a part
of the Next Great Podcast competition from I Heart Radio
and Tongle. Hey, everybody, welcome to Yeah That Didn't Work Out,

(01:48):
a podcast for reachhare stories of romantic encounters that seem
promising only to end with a serious crash and burn.
I'm your host, Gina Finio, bringing you some queer female representation,
and my pronoun are she her. This is a pilot
episode for Yeah that Didn't work Out? Super Stokes. We're
going to hear all the juicy details of our first
love story that spoiler does not work out. My guest

(02:10):
will tell their story first, and I might follow up
with a silly dating story afterwards. We'll see. I've got
tons of them. But thanks for listening and let's get
into it. Hanging out with me today is the fabulous

(02:34):
shall Be My Girlfriend and I called shall Be the
real life Allana from Broad City. She is vivacious and
hilarious and I basically forced her to be my friend
after we were in a wedding together earlier this year.
So yeah, I'm very thankful for you being here today. Hi, Gina,
thanks for having me. It really wanted you here today,

(02:55):
specifically because your story might be my favorite I've ever heard.
I really can't wait to dig into this guy. But
the first thing we need to do, for confidentiality reasons
is give him a fake name. So what are we
going to call him for the sake of today's story.
For today's story, we can call him Justin, just because

(03:16):
I feel like it's very generic and like everyone knows
it Justin. Everyone knows that Justin. I like it all right,
the story of Justin. And I know this story ahead
of time. This goes all the way back to your
twenty one birthday. So let's start with where you met him. So,
as you mentioned, it was my twenty one birthday, and
I whip out my license and I run straight up

(03:38):
to the bouncer. There's got to be a line around
the entire block, and like I'm checking up on my
tiptoes and waving my license, and I'm like, let me,
it's my birthday. Like everyone's like laughing at me. From
all of a sudden, someone who's definitely over six ft
takes my license out of my hand and he's like,
it's not her birthday. It's my birthday, and switches out

(04:01):
my license that I was giving the bouncer for his license,
and I turned around at the sky who was Dick's
foot broad gorgeous, and the bouncers laughing, and so I
take both of our licenses from the bouncer. It is
also his birthday. He's not lying. Oh, I forgot that
you shared a birthday. That's a crazy coincidence. I don't

(04:21):
know what that says about your sign placements, but I'm
gonna have to look into that. Sagittarius says, hey, yeah,
So we're looking at our licenses and we're just like
obviously into each other. I'm I think at this point,
I'm just drunken staring into his eyes. I think we
make it fifteen feet into the bar after this guy
lets us in before we're just like making out everywhere.

(04:43):
I don't even know what his name is yet. I
barely even looked at the license except for the date,
and things are getting like a little heated um. A
few seconds later, there was a tap on my shoulder
and it's my friend Samantha, and she's like, I see
that you found our friend, and I was like, what
are you talking about? Oh, that's right, because your friends
have been planning to set YouTube up the whole time,

(05:05):
Like they had been looking for us at the bar.
So me and Justin are looking to like, oh ship,
like this was supposed to happen, Like this is awesome,
very exciting. Um. So a few hours later, we're heading
back to Samantha's apartment, so you can infer what happened. Yeah,
we know what happens when you get there. And if
the story had ended there, that would have been just

(05:25):
a really great twenty first birthday story. But what happens next.
I didn't really think to contact him later on, right,
it was like a one night thing. So after I
graduate college, I get a message on Instagram and it
was like, hey, it's Justin, Like remember me from that
time on hour twenty first birthday? Oh my god. Like

(05:47):
at this point I had been seeing other people, like,
you know, it's been a few years. I've had a relationships,
but been it's been it's been a long time since
it happened. So the fact that he reached out, I'm like,
the universe is trying to tell me something. Oh definitely,
And he reaches out to me to tell me that
he had joined the Army he was about to be deployed.
He had been doing a lot of reflecting, and he
had mentioned that he's met a lot of great people

(06:10):
and like somebody that he never got to connect with
in the way that he wanted to. Was me, what
a beautiful thing to hear exactly who doesn't want to
hear like I want more of you or I really
think that this could work out. And like the biggest
thing for me was like I'm getting older. Dating somebody
who's Jewish is really important to me, and so I

(06:30):
was like, wow, okay, if this guy's serious, like what
does that even means? But we ended up facetiming for hours. Um,
we had caught up just about so much stuff in
our lives that it had happening. And if you remember,
like we kind of just had like a hook up
at a bar, like we never really talked or like
heard about our lives, and so you knew you had
the chemistry, but now you're like getting to know each other.

(06:53):
So he goes overseas, he goes overseas. We end up
face timing constantly, and it almost became like I want
to know what that means, Like are you seeing other
people I mean, I guess not because you're in the military,
Like are you talking to anybody the same way that
you're talking to me? And he was like no, like
just just like give me a little bit, like I'm

(07:14):
gonna show you. I was like, okay, Like I wonder
what this means. So a few days go by and
I get this giant package and it's marked with like
every postage stamp possible, and it's just like beautiful beadd
like handbeated box and then when you open it, there's
like a candelabra, there's candles, there's scarfs, just beautiful accessories

(07:43):
that are polished, have all of the like handmade stamps
on them and just written in other languages. There's a postcard,
there's photos, and I'm like, oh my god, and all
of them are like I love you hanging there like
it was clearly thought out and planned, and I was like,

(08:03):
holy shit, such a beautiful gesture, like packaged all these
things and sent them across the freaking world to you.
And aside from the fact that they were beautiful, like
some of the photos had been like points of conversation
or like I remember him talking about these locations like
he had had photos printed like this took time and yeah,

(08:28):
so much effort. So now I'm like, Okay, this guy
is obviously serious. From what he's telling He showed up.
He showed up big time from across the world, lady.
So at this point I'm like, okay, like maybe I
should be invested in this. Yeah, And then he started
to get serious. Then it quickly became a conversation of like,
I'm gonna consider law schools and like, let's look at

(08:49):
neighborhoods that we want to look at together. And he's
really speeding this up and talking about the future. And
this was only in a matter of like two or
three months from when he had reached out to me.
He started you booth started moving real quick. I was
I would love struck and like the gifts at least
showed me that he was listening and physically trying to
be part of my world when he couldn't be. But

(09:09):
that's not to discount the fact that we were having
these like hour long conversations about our days and what
our life could be. And so at this point, it's
like two months away from when he would be coming
back to the States, and I'm like, that's that's real,
that's not like in the future. And then it became
this like two month countdown of like, okay, so what
are we doing? Where we going? Are you meeting people? Like?

(09:32):
You know, do you want to meet my family? Everything
just happened so quickly, and that you are at that
point you went from are we in a relationship? To
like this is so serious? Gina. I called two of
my friends and I was like, I think I'm eloping
in August. I'll keep you posted like it was that alright,

(10:04):
So let's recap. At this point, you've had this epic
twenty first birthday experience with this guy. You thought it
was just a great one night stand, but then you
hear from him years later and he's doing the service
and he's talking to you overseas and sending lavish gifts
and once he get his life together and be with you.
So now he's coming to New York and what happens?

(10:25):
So I take off from work. Obviously, I tell half
my coworkers TB D if I come back a married lady,
Oh my god. We came up from the airport and
instantly like I see him. Obviously, I'm like twenty one
years old. Again. We're like we're on the subway, We're
making out. I'm carrying half of his stuff, He's carrying
half of his stuff. We get back, we get to

(10:45):
my apartment, he drops his stuff and like, aside from
the like excited to see you piece, I felt I
felt a little off. And I didn't know if it
was just because like he was tired and needed a
minute to recuperate. But I was like, you shower, I'm
gonna get us some lunch, like really excited to show
you around. I took the day off. So he takes

(11:05):
a shower and he comes out and I noticed that
his entire back is blotchy red and he has a
tattoo that's infected needs attention asap. So everybody comes in
and he goes and do you mind putting some aloe
on my back? And I'm my tattoo, I think that
would really help. And Anne looks at me. She's like

(11:29):
he wants me to what And he was like, you know,
just like rubbed down my back like with aloe. I
think that that would really help it. Shelby said that
my tattoo looked infected, and and like Shelby's right here,
like she could he could do this. It was just
very bizarre, and I was like, okay, like maybe he's
tired or like being friendly. I don't know. Yeah, you're

(11:50):
making a lot of excesses for him early on. Yeah,
so later on he's sitting in my room or having
some conversation. I put together his whole plan of like, well,
you can meet my friends and then maybe my family
will come in and maybe we'll look at apartments if
you want to look like by where you want to
go to law school and bringing up all the conversations
that we had had that led to this moment and

(12:12):
he's almost like not like he's like what do you
mean Columbia Law School? Like why would we look at
the campus? And I'm like, remember he said that you
would applied the law of schools and we'd like live
on the Upper West Side And he was like, oh yeah,
like that sounds good or like you know, I'm just
tired man. Like I'm just like and I'm like, okay,
like that a problem, and you probably want to be
respectful to like this guy just came out of the service,

(12:35):
he's exhausted. He's probably just like whatever, and you know,
you don't wanna exactly, it's exactly what you're saying. I'm like, okay,
I'm excited, he's exhausted. This is just not the same energy.
I was like, I'm gonna leave him alone, no problem.
So we go to sleep and I wake up and
he's not there, and I have a text and it's like, hey,
I went for a run, like I took your keys,

(12:57):
I'll be back later. He comes back, but he's not
in running clothes, like, so you weren't on a run,
where were you? It was so shady, very very shady.
And I had told Anne that she could pick a
restaurant and then I would pay for the three of
us to go out. And he was like, well, how
about like we do something else and then meet up
with her for dinner. And I was like okay, like
whatever you want to do. So we're getting ready and

(13:19):
I come back into my room and he's on hinge
and know who do you think I should go out with?
I have some really good options, what the fuss? And
my face Gina no. So we have it out. I'm
yelling and I'm like I don't understand, and he's like, well,
like I also thought, like while I was in a

(13:41):
new city, I could like also meet some other people.
And I was like, that was not discussed, so this
is not this was not the plan, Like this is
a no go. So he's like, well, I guess, but
like we have different ideas of like relationships. I was like,
you told me to stop seeing other people. I was like,
I need to cool off. This is ridiculous. I'm gonna

(14:01):
take some time. You take whatever you need to get
ready for dinner. Like this is the restaurant, this is
the address. I'll meet either at seven. Okay, so after
that fight you split up, but then he's going to
meet you at dinner. So we meet at dinner. It's
very trendy and always knows the cool places. It's an
Italian restaurant. We're both dressed like real hot, we look good, heels, dresses,

(14:23):
the whole mine. And I see justin coming into the restaurant.
I was like, oh no, he's joking. He's wearing dirty
asked Timberlin boot, lime green bathing suit, short and a kimono.
Oh wow wow. And everybody is wearing suits and dresses

(14:46):
and looks at him and she goes, what the fuck
he's like this kimono was very expensive like what do
you like? What do you mean? And he starts yelling
and he's like, this is where I think that we
have to for an ideas of like what a relationship means.
It just spirals from there. We're all yelling and I'm

(15:06):
like this is insane. So he leaves it it's a
scene and is mortified like I'm so sorry, like like
it's so bad. So later on and I get home
and he's sitting outside the lobby and I was like,
what is wrong with you? And he's like I had
some time to cool off. I'm really sorry. I think

(15:26):
that I just got carried away, like I really want
to be with you and we have such a great
connection and like so I'm like, sometimes I have no
idea who you are, Like you made these great grand
gestures and tell me how much you want to be
with me, and like then you're unhinge and like yelling
at me in restaurants and he's like, you know what,
I realized you're the one I was sending gifts to

(15:49):
and that's the one that I liked. What I was like,
what are you talking about? And he shows me all
of these different women that he hadn't been sharing with
and he was like, but I remember that I sent
one of them special gifts and they're in your room,

(16:09):
So you're the one that I actually want to be with.
Both of us what the act? So if you're keeping count,
this has been two days and all of this has happened.
It's just so everybody cools off. He goes to sleep
in our living room. I sleep by myself that night.
We wake up in the morning and he's like, Okay,

(16:30):
I think we should really talk this out. Let's go
to Central Park. And I was like, you know, there's
still that little romance in me that like maybe I
don't know, there's there's for some reason, it's still a
little hoping me that this is real. So we go
to Central Park. We're walking, I know, I know. We
get to the park and he's instantly like, I'm not
feeling well. I think I'm you know, I'm hungover. I

(16:50):
have to go to the bathroom and like, that's true.
We were out all drinking and we were all yelling
at each other last night. So he goes in and
in this specific bathroom, but there's one entrance. You come
in and out the same way. So it's been like
ten minutes, I text him, and he texted me back, Hey, listen,
I've been doing a lot of thinking and I'm going
to go stay with some family in Connecticut. I'm getting

(17:11):
on a bus. Like, how did he have time to
not only do all the thinking but also get his
asked to a bus station. First of all, you have
to realize I'm standing outside the bathroom. He did not
come outside from the bathroom. We're nowhere near the bus
station what, So obviously I know he's lying. He didn't

(17:32):
come outside. I don't know what he's doing. And so
I leave him in Central Park and days go by.
I don't hear anything from him. His ship is still
in my apartment. But he texts you eventually, right he texted,
He goes, I would really appreciate it if you could
leave all my step in your lobby. Guy. And at
this point I'm total, I've totally given up. And he's like,
but I want to meet your parents. So I'm coming

(17:53):
back from my friend. No, no, no, asshole, this is
not a thing. So I was like, you don't need
to meet my parents. I have no idea what you're thinking.
I threw all of this stuff in a bag, put
it in the lobby. I locked him out. I told
him to leave my key in a mail box, and
then he started sending me like all these voice messages

(18:14):
and like it's my fault that this didn't work out
and we had different expectations. I just need to let
him be free sometimes, and then I just blocked his ass. Wow. Wow,
So that's how it ended, and um safe to say
it did not work out. It did. It did not
work out as much as I was hopeful. Have you

(18:35):
ever heard from him? Since I have not, that might
be for the best. Okay, Well, normally I would tell
one of my own disastrous dating stories, but I'm just

(18:56):
not really sure I can compete with this one. Oh,
come on, you you have good ones. Also, I know
I've heard them, okay, alright, well, alright, knowing that mine
won't be anywhere near as good to tell a quick story,
and just as a preface, my stories are a little
more like fun dating stories. But let's get into it. Okay.
So there's a St. Patrick's Say parade in my hometown

(19:19):
and my family is not even Irish, but the parade
goes right by our house. So my parents throw a
porch party every year and we start drinking at like
nine am, and it always ends disastrously, bad decisions guaranteed.
And there was this adorable older woman who lived across
the street. Were really close with her whole family, you know,

(19:39):
like her kids were my parents age, her grandkids were
my age. And so we're all at the bar on
this one parade day and I get introduced to her
grandson and I'm like, well, hi, you know, this was
back before um men totally repulsed me, and like there
and apparently we used to like play in the neighborhood
when we were younger and stuff. I don't even really

(20:01):
remember him, but he just was like beautiful looking standing
in front of me. So the day drinking influenced some
relations to be had. That night, we actually hooked up
under the bleachers of my high school, which was so hot,
but I might edit that out. So that was just
a fun, little one night thing. But obviously that didn't

(20:23):
work out. And fast forward to several years later, and unfortunately,
my sweet old granny neighbor did pass away and I
went to the funeral. I saw him there. And I'm
not an awkward person, you know, I'd like to think
I can have experiences with people and not be weird afterwards,
so I said hello and he gave me a hug
and all that, and then on the card home, my
parents are asking me like, how did you end up

(20:44):
in the same circle again or whatever, like how did
you reconnect? Because I went to the public high school
and he went to the Catholic high school, and there
there really was no connection between us besides when we
played when, Oh my God, and I'm like racking my
brain trying to think of someone that could connect us,
and I just like, I don't know. I couldn't think
of it anything. I have no idea even what I said.
And my sister was cracking up next to me in

(21:06):
the car. Oh my gosh, it was such a mess.
It's hilarious. So yeah, moral of the story, don't fuck
your speed old Aber's grandson. All right, well, thank you
again Shelby for being here for our pilot episode of

(21:29):
Vien that didn't work out. And I just have one
final question for you, and that is are you still single?
I am, Well, we definitely shall. We wish you a
better luck moving forward. If you are interested in Shelby,
you can reach her via my d M and I
will screen them for her. To keep up with me,

(21:49):
you can follow me at Gina finy on Instagram, That's
at g I n A f I n i oh
at Bisexual Gina on TikTok, and you can visit my
website Gina Fino dot com and that well first today.
Thanks again, Shelby, Thanks for having me. Do I know
there are tons more epic love stories out there that
also did not work out, So send me your worst

(22:10):
My d M s are open. Thanks again for listening

(22:36):
to Yeah That Didn't work Out as a part of
the Next Great Podcast competition from I Heart Radio and Tongle.
If you like this episode and want to hear more,
make sure you get your votes in. Thanks again. Hi,
this is Sienna from Toss Popcorn, last year's winner of
the Next Great Podcast. Thank you so much for listening
to this episode and be sure to go vote for

(22:57):
your favorite at Next Great Podcast dot com. We hast
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