Lottery Dreams and Life Lessons: What Would You Do With Millions?

What would you do after winning the lottery and handling all the obvious responsibilities? That's the question that sparks a surprisingly deep and revealing conversation among the Private Lounge hosts. While starting with lighthearted fantasies, the discussion quickly evolves into something much more meaningful about values, purpose, and how we might create positive change given greater resources.

Each host reveals dreams that center around community impact rather than personal luxury. From building comprehensive STEAM schools that restore arts education, to creating community centers focused on financial literacy for teenagers, to innovative approaches for helping the homeless that go beyond just providing shelter. One particularly thoughtful idea involves pairing each formerly homeless person with a dedicated resource advocate for a year - someone who could help them navigate systems, access healthcare, and reestablish their footing in society.

The conversation takes a nostalgic turn as hosts reflect on their own educational experiences in both public and Catholic schools, revealing how parental involvement and community mentorship proved more valuable than the type of school they attended. They share touching stories of teachers who went the extra mile, becoming crucial support systems in their formative years.

Perhaps most revealing is what everyone would keep the same in their lives even with unlimited wealth - favorite coffee shops, creative pursuits, and connections to their communities. The discussion ultimately circles to the importance of generosity regardless of financial status, with hosts sharing the small acts of kindness they already practice. As one host poignantly notes, "You can always do good and you can always help," reminding us that making a difference through compassion is available to everyone, with or without a winning lottery ticket.

Tune in every Friday at 6pm Pacific/9pm Eastern and Sundays at noon Pacific/3pm Eastern for more thought-provoking conversations with the All About the Joy crew!

Thank you for stopping by. Please visit our website: All About The Joy and add, like and share. You can also support us by shopping at our STORE - We'd appreciate that greatly. Also, if you want to find us anywhere on social media, please check out the link in bio page.

Music By Geovane Bruno, Moments, 3481
Editing by Team A-J
Host, Carmen Lezeth


DISCLAIMER: As always, please do your own research and understand that the opinions in this podcast and livestream are meant for entertainment purposes only. States and other areas may have different rules and regulations governing certain aspects discussed in this podcast. Nothing in our podcast or livestream is meant to be medical or legal advice. Please use common sense, and when in doubt, ask a professional for advice, assistance, help and guidance.

Episode Transcript

Carmen Lezeth (00:00):
Hey everybody, welcome to the private lounge.
And all about the joy in thehouse is Cynthia, rick, mario
and Alma.
Hi everyone.
So today's topic.
Now I wanted to give you guysjust a little bit of information

(00:21):
as to why I'm into this topicabout winning the lottery.
You won it.
What?
Oh, you thought I was going totell you that I won it.

Rick Costa (00:30):
We're getting my day off.

Carmen Lezeth (00:32):
Wait, wait, wait.
You think I would have sent youan email being like here is the
link to the private lounge.
Well, you would have been anice little gimme, I would have
been like, first of all, all Iwould have had like my assistant
that you guys would all of asudden be introduced to like who
?

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (00:50):
is that a new assistant like shows
canceled for today?

Carmen Lezeth (00:55):
forever.
Carmen is on an island.
I went and bought a lotteryticket the other day, because
every once in a while I'll buyone, and the woman behind the
counter she's very nice and shewas just like just don't forget
me if you win.
And I was like, okay, I saidit's a deal, girl, you know what
I mean?
Like I don't know.
And so I got in my car and Iwent to work.

(01:17):
I was feeling happy, becausethat's what happens when you
play the lottery at least for me, because I don't play it all
the time I start dreaming aboutthe possibilities.
Now, just for the record, Ilooked this up.
I can't believe it's true.
You have a better chance ofgetting struck by lightning than

(01:38):
you do winning the lottery.
I'm not proposing that peopleshould play the lottery.
I know people who spend likelots of money all the time.
No, that's ridiculous.
I play like one.
And the new thing with megabucks, here in California it's
$5.
I said I don't need the megabucks one, I'll take the $2 one.
I didn't know that.

Maurio Dawson (01:57):
Yeah, that's super yeah, mega millions is $5.
Super lotto here in Californiais still two.

Carmen Lezeth (02:05):
What's mega?

Maurio Dawson (02:06):
bucks, then Mega millions.
That's the nationwide one.
That's why I sold, yeah, yeah.

Rick Costa (02:14):
Anyway.
So part of so do you win morewith the $5 one.

Maurio Dawson (02:16):
Do you win more?
You do Well, because the megamillions is a multi-state
lottery.
It's not just for your state,it's across the country.

Carmen Lezeth (02:25):
I love that Mario knows all about this,
absolutely.

Maurio Dawson (02:33):
So you know, making millions is multi-state.
All the participating statesacross the country, they all put
their pots in it, If you notice.
That's why it goes up soquickly versus the California
lottery, California statelottery, which still can be very
high because of our population,and we can go up pretty fast
too.

Carmen Lezeth (02:51):
I don't even pay attention to it that deeply.

Maurio Dawson (02:54):
Listen, when you come from a who had an uncle who
played the lottery faithfullyevery week for 40 years, you
know these things.

Carmen Lezeth (03:03):
My uncle played a lot, did he?

Maurio Dawson (03:04):
ever win.
Yes, he did.
He never hit the mega number,but he hit five numbers multiple
times, four numbers he wouldalways hit, and then he'd turn
around and reinvest it.
You know my aunt was a gambler.
Rest her soul, you know.
But yeah, so that's why I knowthis stuff.

Carmen Lezeth (03:24):
Well, the show isn't about the lottery.
That's not what the show'sabout.
The show is about if we did win, what would we do?
But it is after you've donewhat we all dream about, which
would pay your bills, buy yourhomes, take care of your family,
set up your trust funds, doyour nonprofit work blah, blah,

(03:50):
blah, blah, blah, blah.

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (03:52):
Right, what would you want to do?
What is there left to do?
You've done everything.
You've traveled the worldalready.

Carmen Lezeth (03:59):
So the whole idea of this conversation I wanted
to get to is trying to find whatour actual passion is, because
so many people's passion is tiedup on not having enough money
to do what they want to do.

Maurio Dawson (04:16):
Right, yeah, no, I think we, elma and I, talked
about this once before where wesaid one thing we were going to
do is open up a school for, youknow, for kids in the community
and develop more communitycenters.
We want to bring in fine artsfor these kids, we want to make
it.

Carmen Lezeth (04:28):
Is that missing in the schools now?

Maurio Dawson (04:30):
Yeah, we go back to definitely being creating a
STEAM school versus a STEMschool, and I don't know for
people who don't know, I don'tknow what the difference is.
A STEM is science, technology,engineering and math.
The difference is a STEM isscience, technology, engineering
and math.
Steam is science, technology,engineering, arts and math.

(04:52):
So you put, you integrate allthose things back into the
schools and these are likeschools that are really driven
for those things, whereas aSTEAM school, I think, is better
only because it's morewell-rounded.

Carmen Lezeth (05:04):
Are all the arts out of the school?

Alma Dawson (05:07):
system.
No, not Okay.
So no, they're not completelyout, but it's not something that
they do daily.
So if the school can afford to,if they have it in their budget
to, let's say, get a teacherfor drama or for music or for
something like that, the teacherwill budget.
To, let's say, get a teacherfor drama or for music or for

(05:27):
something like that, the teacherwill come, let's say, once a
week, yeah, once a week, andthen the classes are kind of
rotate, to like every semesterwe'll split the semester in two.
Well, that's horrible.

Carmen Lezeth (05:41):
I didn't even okay, so I'm changing.
I'm changing my lottery planright now.
I'm going to add to my list.

Alma Dawson (05:47):
So then it's like that and they did like the, they
did give the schools like thisextra money to promote taking
the kids to art driven fieldtrips.
So that's how our school, like,took the kids to the Pantages.
We took the kids to, you know,to go see.

Carmen Lezeth (06:06):
That should be part of the whole program.
That shouldn't be an extra.
It's a sad situation.

Alma Dawson (06:12):
It's a sad situation exactly.
So, then, that's what I'msaying.
So not all the schools havethat.

Carmen Lezeth (06:18):
There are some magnet schools that are geared
to be art schools, but not thereare private schools that do
that, because not I, but throughtheir clients or whatever we
pay ridiculous amounts of moneyfor children in the seventh
grade, you know, like fortythousand dollars a year yes for

(06:40):
crossroads?

Maurio Dawson (06:40):
yeah, he's talking about like crossroads
and yeah, so yeah but so thatwould be our thing.

Alma Dawson (06:47):
I think my other thing too is, um, like you said,
like doing the school thing,but also me, my big thing is
building a community centergeared towards the older kids.
Our older kids really don'thave a lot to do unless they
have a lot of money to go dothings.
So gearing it towards that, butalso building in financial

(07:11):
literacy, because I think that'sone of the things that our
community lacks.
You know, things like that.

Carmen Lezeth (07:17):
Rick thoughts on what you would want to do after
you've done all the bigimportant stuff that you have to
do to be now settled.
What would you?

Rick Costa (07:26):
have to do to be now settled.
What would you want to do?
I would love to find, like asecret way, anonymous way to
like help homeless people,people that are in need homeless
people like carmen your bestfriend, like I heard I think was
in canada, where like a guylike bought land and made all

(07:48):
these little houses and he'slike this is all what y'all just
lived there and I'm like that'sso cool, like that got me
excited, like stuff like that,as long as I could do it
anonymously, like why would itbe so important?

Carmen Lezeth (07:59):
I mean, I'm just curious, why would it be so
important to do it anonymously?

Rick Costa (08:04):
I don't need any glory or pat on the back.
I don't need that, nor do Iwant that.

Carmen Lezeth (08:08):
To be honest with you so yeah, I'm gonna hold you
all to it.

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (08:12):
I gave you money I won the lottery I shared
it.

Carmen Lezeth (08:16):
Every outfit you wear should be I love on the
back.
All about the joy.
I love Carmen.

Rick Costa (08:26):
Another thing too.
I always had a dream.
So many people that have doneit have said they've come back
afterward and they're justchanged Is go like on a
missionary trip, maybe severaloh yeah, I totally see that.
Yeah, they say when you comeback from that and you realize,
child, you ain't got nothing tocomplain about.

(08:46):
Look at how they're living.
It's like oof.
Yeah, that too, that too.

Carmen Lezeth (08:51):
I think that would be beautiful.
I think the idea of givinghomes to the homeless, I mean,
of course, there's so much moreinvolved in that, right, because
of the bureaucracy that we'rein.
I mean, every state has theirissues.
I know California tries.
They've tried the turnkey thing, they've tried so many things.
But it's not just one problem.

(09:13):
Right, homeless people are alldifferent people.
They're not all the same,they're not all alcoholics,
they're not all this or all that.
So everybody needs somethingelse.
And so what I would say is myjust to piggyback on what you're
saying.
I thought about the same thing.
I didn't even think about theanonymous thing, because I don't
care.
I would do a trust, so youwouldn't know my name.

(09:34):
Anyways, you'd know what thetrust name is and I would do the
same thing.
But what I would do that wouldbe different is I would want to
hire one person for each familyor each person.
So, for example, I'd hireanother person and I'd pay them
whatever 70, 80 or a hundredthousand dollars a year,
depending on what part of thecountry you're in and that
person would be like theirsponsor, not as an alcoholic or

(09:56):
whatever, but somebody that theycan go to and say you know what
, I don't know how to do this.
Or, oh, yeah, I'm supposed togo in, uh, to go to the doctors
this week, because I think oneof the one of the things that
people don't understand abouthomeless people is you lose your
way because you lose a sense ofself and time and understanding
because you're in survival mode.

(10:18):
Does that make sense?
So this is one thing like likewhen I'm sad or I'm tired, I
just come home and I'm like youknow what?
I'm not going to go out with myfriends tonight, I'm going to
go lay down on my bed, whatever.
Homeless people aren't doingthat.
Homeless people are like thisall the time Angst.
You know what I mean.
And so for me, what I would addto what you're doing, rick, is I

(10:40):
would want one person for atleast one year.
Is I would want one person forat least one year.
Once we set up that person withthat home, they would have
someone to go to, no matter what, for whatever question, so that
that person can then delegateoh, you need a lawyer.
Okay, oh, you need a.
You know an AA group, or youneed to go to the doctors, or
you know It'd be their resourceperson yeah, yeah, so that's you

(11:02):
need your identificationdocuments Exactly.

Alma Dawson (11:07):
Get all of your stuff together, yeah, and even
if that person doesn't know it.

Carmen Lezeth (11:10):
they are resourceful enough because they
they know where to go, and maybewe add that into the loop too
right, We'd get all those peopleas part of that community, so
that that sponsor person knowswho to go to.

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (11:23):
You know so, and then probably, like after a
year, the person that they helpcan now turn around and do it
for somebody else.
That's right, yeah.

Carmen Lezeth (11:32):
Yeah, that's right, but it but it's about
lifting people up, giving themthe protection, giving them
everything that they need towalk on.
We all need somebody.
We all need somebody to walk onthrough.
You know, when you're homelessand you have no money, no job,
no nothing, and you have issueslike everyone else does, that
you would be able to do thatalone, and that's why so many of

(11:54):
the programs that people try,especially in the state of
California, fail every time.
You can't just give somebody ahome.
Who's homeless I?

Alma Dawson (12:02):
completely agree with that, because then you know
, piggybacking off of that, it'slike when you do do that, like
if you do you go and you buy theland and you build these homes,
also build a medical clinic.
You know also, you know whatI'm saying, because they're
going to need a community Acommunity.
They're going to need acommunity.

Carmen Lezeth (12:21):
And it takes time to build that.
It takes time to build thatstuff up.

Alma Dawson (12:24):
Yeah.

Carmen Lezeth (12:25):
Cynthia, what you got for us girl, she's going to
stretch.

Maurio Dawson (12:29):
She's going to stretch.

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (12:32):
Because, I live in Boston.
What are you?

Carmen Lezeth (12:34):
doing?
You're building Disney inBoston.
Is that what you just said?

Rick Costa (12:37):
Yeah, yeah, I'm going to miss this.
Sign me up, I'll visit that oneme up, I'll visit that one.

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (12:49):
Uh, no, I said, since I live in boston and
there's such like homeless anda drug problem here, especially
near the main hospitals andstuff like that, probably build
more rehab centers, becausethat's one big thing that we're
lacking here is rehab centers,and you know you have a lot of
homeless who do drugs right outon the street next to these
hotels.
Like they built so many hotels.

(13:09):
It's like why we don't needmore hotels just to make it look
like new york.
Well, yeah, to make it look allcongested like new york.

Carmen Lezeth (13:19):
You know we need more places to get, for people
to get help we need places forpeople not to get in trouble to
the point that they need to goon drugs and alcohol or whatever
.
I mean there's so many systemicissues in what you're talking
about.
Like you know, the idea thatyou would fall that far is
that's a far place to go, and Ithink because we just throw out

(13:41):
the word unhoused or homeless orwhatever we've now put them in
this category category we don'trealize what each individual
person has gone through, theirstory, yeah, their whole story
you know, uh, oh, I love this,we're gonna.
So we solved hollywood and nowwe're like solving the homeless
problem this week and childrenand and fixing our children.

Maurio Dawson (14:03):
They are the future.

Rick Costa (14:04):
Teach them well.

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (14:10):
Exactly.
This is the new White Housecabinet right here.

Maurio Dawson (14:12):
Come on.

Carmen Lezeth (14:13):
Come on Let me start it, because you know we
are all much more qualified thanthe people and you know what I
wish.
I was joking.
Sorry, I wish I was joking.
I keep thinking about PeteHegseff, the Secretary of
Defense.
It's just, we don't talk aboutpolitics, we just talk about

(14:35):
incompetence.
At the moment, I'm just sayingI have never in all my life
turned around and been like youknow what?
I think I think I could runthat department better than he
is Like.
I've never done that, ever.
I've never seen a president andbeen like I could run it better
than you.
And that's how I know we're introuble.

Rick Costa (14:56):
You know, what I like too about what we all just
talked about is and I thinkCynthia brought it up that you
help the person fully as much asyou can and then, when they're
good, they're going to help thenext person Like they don't have
to, let's so I don't know, theydon't have to no.

Carmen Lezeth (15:12):
I think that's important.
I think I talked about this inone of our other episodes.
When I came out to Los Angeles,the first place I went to was
Compton not for any other reason, except that I had a light
connection there and I starteddoing volunteer work at a place
called Blazer House, and it wasan afterschool program like what

(15:32):
you were talking about forolder kids, teenagers, and this
man, benny Davenport,established this place out of
his own home.
He ended up getting somefunding.
I think it was Paul Mitchell itis Paul Mitchell who was
helping him, whatever.
And these kids and I was likeyou know what?
This?
These are my people.
This is me.
I grew up like this whatever,and after I don't know, I was
there for maybe seven months.
I couldn't do it anymore, andthe reason why I couldn't do it

(15:54):
anymore is because it was tooclose to me, it was still too
like I.
I, I was not effective, I wasnot helpful, because I would
come home and cry all the time,or I'd remember, or I'd have my
own little triggers, or you knowwhat I mean.
And I wasn't.
I was destroying my own spiritand it's yes, it's about healing

(16:14):
or whatever.
But that's why I say I want tobe careful on that too, because
if they want to, that would be agreat thing.
But maybe their way of helpingis becoming the people they're
supposed to be.
Maybe somebody is a greatlibrarian or a teacher or an
actress or whatever it is, youknow what I mean.
Or a construction person,whatever it is, you know.

(16:36):
Or an engineer or a lawyer,because it's not just poor
people who are homeless.
So you know, I just want to becareful.

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (16:47):
That's what I meant, though, like about
turning around and them helpingthe next person, like they could
be a resource for someone, likeif they, you know, used to be a
lawyer.
Like you said, you know theycan help somebody else with
legal issues, not necessarily bethe resource person.
Yeah.

Carmen Lezeth (17:06):
I think the only reason I bring it up is because
most people that I work fordon't know my past, unless it's
years later.
Then they're like you have abook, you know what I mean?
Like someday, do a Googlesearch and they'll be like let
me see who my right-hand personhas been for the past five years
.
Let's do a Google search.

Rick Costa (17:24):
Carmen, you have a book.

Alma Dawson (17:26):
What's the name of your book, Carmen.

Carmen Lezeth (17:29):
But it's so funny because I mean, this just
happened this past year.

Maurio Dawson (17:34):
Okay, but seriously, what's the name of
your book so people can know?

Carmen Lezeth (17:36):
Canela.

Maurio Dawson (17:38):
Okay.

Carmen Lezeth (17:39):
C-A-N-E-L-A.
Are you asking me for real?
Oh, because you want yeah.

Maurio Dawson (17:43):
No, because this is all about the joy we are
cross.
We are cross, uh referencingour product.

Carmen Lezeth (17:55):
There we go.
Okay, thank you, mario.
Yeah, if you go to CarmenSuarezcom, you can find all of
our links, and even if you go toall about the joy, you can find
all our links there.
And yes, I wrote a book.
It's a book about all thepeople that helped walk me
through during that time periodin my life, and it was really.
It started off as letters,individual letters to mentors,
and then I put it together in abook form, but thank you, so
pick it up, check it out.

Maurio Dawson (18:17):
Now back to our show.

Carmen Lezeth (18:23):
Thank you, mario.
But that's kind of my point is,like people, because you know
how Joy was talking about theother day, that that's just one
small part of her.
You know that that's not all ofwho she is.
It's like if I meet people andthat's the first thing they know
about me, that colors all theother parts of who I am right.
I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but for other people it could

(18:45):
be right.
It could be that I love that,what we that somehow we got to
this place of helping childrenand helping homeless people,
because that's really good,decent, awesome people.
You know what I mean.
Like you're good, you knowyou're my people you're my
people.

Maurio Dawson (19:06):
You're my people, you know.
And I think, maybe probablybecause that's stuff we longed
for, even though God bless mymom, because my mother struggled
and put me through privateschool.
So I was afforded a lot of thatstuff and she worked two and a
half jobs, literally most of myyoung life, to put me in private

(19:28):
school and I was like I want togo to public school.
She's like hell.
No, she's like I will.
She's like I will.
I will miss a meal, I willstruggle, I will drive the
raggediest car, do whatever ittakes.
I'm pushing private school.
That's not everybody can't dothat, right, but I wish everyone

(19:48):
could have that same experience.
And then when I got older andhad my own kid and put my own
child through public school, shewas still in a pretty good
school.
They still gave her a lot ofthose things.
I'd say she's well-rounded.
She is a well-rounded child,but that's because of us, with

(20:10):
the help of public school.
But all the schools don't havewhat she got, but we went to
private school.

Carmen Lezeth (20:16):
Cynthia and I went to private, we went to
Catholic school.

Maurio Dawson (20:18):
I think it was the worst thing we ever did.

Carmen Lezeth (20:20):
I thought it was the worst.
When I look back on how bad ourcurriculum was.
Going to catholic school didnothing for me.
Actually.
It put me behind to the pointthat when I did go to college I
had to go to a summer program.
Thank god they had thatavailable because I was not up
to par with my english andmathematics.

(20:40):
But ask me anything about theBible.
I'm there, you know what I mean.
That's all we did Religion andEnglish, that was it.

Maurio Dawson (20:49):
True.
Now I went to Catholic schoolfor high school.
I did not have that sameexperience.

Carmen Lezeth (20:55):
No, no, I'm just saying.
I already experienced it.
Didn't you go to BlessedSacrament too, I?

Alma Dawson (21:01):
went all 12 years.
Yeah, I said not.
Catholic schools are built thesame, you know.

Carmen Lezeth (21:08):
So, even though you know they're all catholic
schools, they all set their owncurriculum yeah yeah, and our
school was in the uh, it was thesisters of poverty and they
were not kidding they were pooras hell like, and we were poor
that was it.

Rick Costa (21:27):
Yeah, but yeah and we just looked at the
archdiocese, so we could go.
What rick I said I had the, theparents of poverty because we
didn't go to we didn't go topublic.
We went to public school,private school.
What's that?
I didn't even know.
There was such a thing foryears as a kid.
What's a private school?
I didn't even know, yeah.

Carmen Lezeth (21:47):
I mean, I think, the schools in the neighborhood
when I grew up.
It's not that they were bad,it's that the Latinos in our
neighborhood thought that thebetter school was the Catholic
school.
Because, I have to tell you, Iremember knowing that Boston,
latin, all them schools werebetter than our school.
We knew it, that Boston.
Latin all them schools werebetter than our school.

(22:07):
We knew it.
But our parents, because theywere all very religious
religious, I'm doing quotesbecause I don't know how
religious they were, but theywere religious they were like no
, no, no, you're going to go tothe caucus school, even if we
have to pay and I know wecouldn't really afford it, but
they had sliding scales orwhatever.

Maurio Dawson (22:22):
And that's how I was able to go afford it.

Carmen Lezeth (22:24):
but they had like sliding scales or whatever, or
that's, and that's how I wasable to go.
Yeah, and I'd like, because youlived in the archdiocese and if
you went to church 19 times aweek or whatever it was,
whatever the requirements wereno, I wasn't catholic at all,
still not.

Maurio Dawson (22:36):
But you know, and we have to pay, we have to pay
more.
My mother had to pay morebecause we weren't.

Carmen Lezeth (22:41):
Catholic.
That's horrible.

Maurio Dawson (22:44):
Yeah, we had to pay more because I was not
Catholic.

Alma Dawson (22:48):
Huh, and we had to Wow, we would have just lied.

Maurio Dawson (22:52):
Even though we were, even though I was, on a
sliding scale, my scale washigher and there was a lot of my
friends who were higher, whosescales were higher.

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (22:59):
Look at him taking out the Bible.
Yes, I'm not in the Bible, I'mtaking out the Bible.

Maurio Dawson (23:03):
Yes, I'm taking out the Bible, yes, yes.
Oh no, it's, let's Take yourMoney.

Carmen Lezeth (23:13):
Chapter 3, verse 2.
Yeah, and this is not.
Look, I'm not saying allCatholic schools are bad.
I'm not saying all privateschools are bad, that's not what
anybody here is saying we'rejust talking about our own
experiences and that isunfortunate and I hope it is not
allowed anymore to discriminatetuition-wise based on your
religion.
It's still going on.

Maurio Dawson (23:33):
Right now, yeah, wow.

Rick Costa (23:36):
Because it's private .
You can't say it's illegal,because they can't go to a
Catholic school Exactly.
Still messed up.

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (23:45):
My brother was the only one that got out of
going to Catholic school forall 12 years.
Where did he go so, from sixth?

Maurio Dawson (23:54):
and seventh grade .
Which brother is this?
Sean, my brother.

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (23:58):
Sean.
Okay, he's older than me, okay.
So he went to Boston Latin forsixth and seventh grade and I
guess it was too hard for him,and then he went to regular
public school and then highschool.
No-transcript.

Carmen Lezeth (24:14):
But the rest of us Fierce yeah.

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (24:17):
Yeah, the rest of us went to Catholic
school for 12 years and my highschool was an all-girl high
school.
What high school did you go to,really?
St Clair's?

Carmen Lezeth (24:28):
Oh, I'm so sorry I did not know that I went to
Mission.

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (24:32):
Mission Church.

Carmen Lezeth (24:33):
Oh, right it was like a joke.
I'm not trying to be rude Again.
We did nothing.

Maurio Dawson (24:41):
But you know the Bible, my wife she's a Valley
girl, yeah, I was.

Alma Dawson (24:47):
So my public school I love my schools, all of my
schools.
But when it came to going to,you know, junior high school and
high high school, my dad wastrying to put me in a catholic
school and I was like no way, no.
And he was like well.
So then I talked to my teachersand I was like well, how can I

(25:11):
get around going to theneighborhood schools?
So at that point was when theystarted this uh, permits with
transportation programs in thepublic schools, in the LA public
schools.
So basically you signed up andthey would pick a school that
was at least however many milesaway from your neighborhood and

(25:35):
they would bus you.
So then I ended up going allthe way to chatsworth for middle
school and high school.

Maurio Dawson (25:43):
So I would be, I would be on the bus at six, six,
that's far just for for peoplewho are not in la chatsworth is
in the valley and and we are allthe way yeah, we're it's far,
it's a good hour drive everymorning, yeah, so.

Alma Dawson (25:57):
I would be up every morning, you know, on the bus
by 6, 615.
And I did that from seventhgrade all the way through 12th
grade.
So I did junior high and highschool out in the Valley.
I got a great education.
Yeah, I really did.
I got a great education.

Carmen Lezeth (26:15):
So I'll say this about education and don't get
mad at me, alma, but we need alittle fireworks anyway.
So some of the people that wewent to grammar school with that
, we went to Blessed Sacramentwith right, which was our
grammar school, catholic school,whatever, they ended up not
going to the same high school wewent to and they went to Boston
Latin.
They went to all the othergreat schools Milton Academy,

(26:37):
right, all the big time schoolsthat you could get into.
And these people I hate to sayit, but the ones I'm talking
about were all white and all hadmoney.
Now, they didn't really havemoney because they grew up kind
of in the same area we did, butthey had a car, you know what I
mean they were wealthy orwhatever it was.
I'm being sarcastic, but we allthought they were richer than we
were.
But I know three people who hada better education, who and

(27:04):
again, this isn't in deck, it'snot indicative of education, but
have failed miserably as itgoes everywhere, for sure it's
amazing, like because you wouldthink I had the worst education
right and I turned out prettyamazing, no matter what happened
.
And then there are people whoand even the clients I have with

(27:25):
their children and all themoney they pay and their kids,
end up becoming drug addicts orhaving issues.
It's not the schools, but yousee what I'm saying.

Maurio Dawson (27:35):
It doesn't matter , it's the choices.

Alma Dawson (27:37):
It is choices, right, it's work ethic.
It is choices.
It's work ethic.
It's choices.
It's parenting.
Yes, most definitely.

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (27:46):
It's the nuns.

Alma Dawson (27:50):
Even though I was all the way out there in the
Valley.
Guess who was there for theopen houses and the future
conferences and the hoppingconferences and the popping in
and checking in on me, eventhough it was all the way in
Timbuktu?
Trust me, they would be poppingup and I'd be like, oh you know
, checking in that.

Carmen Lezeth (28:11):
I was.
It is about parenting and thepeople you have around you.

Maurio Dawson (28:14):
That's it.

Alma Dawson (28:16):
When I was involved in sports.
They never missed a game.
On the flip side, my mothernever went to anything.

Carmen Lezeth (28:22):
I was, you know.
I mean she was working, so shenever saw me dance.
She never saw me in colorgarden, nothing.
She never, and neither did anyof the other adults, even after
she passed away, or whatever.

Maurio Dawson (28:33):
But look at you now.

Carmen Lezeth (28:36):
I don't mean it that way.
I'm making a really good pointbecause I think education is
important, but it's about theadults you do have around you
that care, that support you.
My seventh grade teachereverybody knows Alice McIntyre
because I talk about her all thetime.
Miss Theopolis, mr Bernanzanithese teachers, they came to my
performances, they supported me.

(28:57):
Mr Bernanzani would come andpick me up and make sure I would
go.
He would pick me up at my houseand he would take me to school,
even though he wasn't myteacher and I know today people
would freak out about that.

Maurio Dawson (29:11):
That's a big no-no now.

Carmen Lezeth (29:13):
I know, but that man did nothing so he cared
about the kids, you know what Imean.
So I wasn't the only one.
He was like it's on my way andthis way I'll make sure these
kids don't fall through thecracks.
And what it meant was for mewas that someone cared and I had
to be there because he wasgoing to be there, you know, and

(29:35):
it's kind of that thing.
You know, who do you havearound you?
I wish we were more communitydriven.
That's why I hope we win thelottery and I hope you do build
your school, because it is aboutthe community.
I would not be here today if itwasn't for the community that
made sure I didn't fall throughthe cracks.

Maurio Dawson (29:55):
Yeah, the other thing is, people are building
schools, especially charterschools.

Carmen Lezeth (30:00):
I'm sorry, but you got to talk louder or none
of us are going to let you talk.
Go ahead.

Rick Costa (30:04):
Go ahead.
I'll just say, and for moreinformation on that, Canela is
available on Amazoncom.
There you go.

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (30:10):
Okay.

Carmen Lezeth (30:14):
Yeah, here I am trying to make sure you are in
Now.
I'm going to let you.
You're never going to talk.
It's going to be a show with me, omar and Mario, and then
sometimes Cynthia, sometimes.

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (30:33):
What I was going to say was like my mom was
always there when fear of mymother in my soul, even after
she passed that.
I didn't ever skip school.
I made sure I did my homeworkand I did all my extracurricular
activities, everything likethat, because I was like I still
had that fear of God behind me,of God behind me.

(30:55):
You know what I'm saying.
Like I had my mom there with methat discipline because the rest
of my family never came to myany of my shows or games or any
of that stuff when I was in highschool.
But I still went and dideverything.

Carmen Lezeth (31:08):
I'm sorry, cynthia, I why wasn't I in touch
with you then?
So, for people who don't know,cynthia is my cousin.
I am, I'm not going to say mucholder, but I am, although I'm
cuter.
No, I'm just kidding.
I feel so bad because I I wasgoing through my thing, cause
the reason why Cynthia and Iconnected.

(31:29):
It's going to be a therapy show, though, because Cynthia and I
have a similar situation in that, at the same age of 12, even
though I think we're 10 yearsapart, maybe a little bit more,
a little bit more we both lostour mother and both did not have

(31:50):
fathers.
Now she ended up knowing who herfather was later, right, um,
but we have a similar situationwhere the people that you
thought would come and take careof you comfort you, walk you
through console, you take careof you at 12.
You know what I mean Did not dothat.
So that's how we are soconnected now is because we

(32:13):
realize but I, I will always saythis and I know I'm laughing,
but it's because I want to crybut I hate that I wasn't there
for you.
I mean, I couldn't be.
I think you were already inCalifornia though at that time.
No, I was in college.
God damn it.
I'm not that fucking old.
What is wrong.

(32:36):
Jesus Christ.
No, I wow Jesus, not that old.
No, I was in college.
I think I was in collegebecause your mother died.
What year?

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (32:53):
91.

Carmen Lezeth (32:55):
I had just started my summer.
Actually, I wasn't even incollege.
It was I was doing myapplications for college, yeah,
so because I, oh, no, no, no,that's a lie.
I was going into my freshmanyear of college.
That's true.

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (33:12):
But you were still in another state.
I was in Vermont.

Maurio Dawson (33:15):
Allegedly I graduated in 1994.

Carmen Lezeth (33:18):
I have no problemedly, I graduated in 1994
.
I have no problem tellingpeople I graduated in 1994.
But I'm laughing because she'slike I think you were already in
California.

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (33:31):
She's trying to be kind.

Alma Dawson (33:32):
She's trying to be kind, okay.

Carmen Lezeth (33:36):
I am 74 years old .
Everyone, thank you.
You look damn good for 74.
Right, I am 74 years old.

Maurio Dawson (33:39):
Everyone, thank you.

Carmen Lezeth (33:39):
You look damn good for 74 right thanks to
Nilou see her, so you guys cansee it right now.
See it, it's gonna get.
Oh my god, it's gonna getreally deep it gets this long
for those of you who can't seeme here's my problem Like right

(34:04):
now.
I know my financial situation'sabout to get what everyone's is
, so people are there, sorry.
What's happening right now inour country.
But so I'm trying to prepareand in my head I'm like you know
what?
I'm okay with the hair doingwhat I got to do, cause I don't
give a shit.
It looks like shit, but I don'tthink I can deal with this, but
I'm not going to, I'm not goingto do it, I'm not Again.

(34:29):
If I had the lottery, youwouldn't even know, we wouldn't
even know.
Okay, let me ask you this, andI'm going to rick first so rick
can get in there.
Okay, rick, you know I love you, right of course, okay, all
right.

Rick Costa (34:42):
I was thinking, though, when you said your mom.
You know she was busy workingso she couldn't be there, but if
it was today, she could haveseen it from people taking
videos, but we didn't have thatyeah, you know what look it.

Carmen Lezeth (34:56):
I'll be honest, and this is no disrespect to my
mother I I mean, I don'tremember her that much and I
know she was a powerful,brilliant woman based on what
everyone's told me, and I hopeI'm a little bit like her, but I
don't think my mother, mymother, didn't take that stuff
seriously.
Like it was babysitting, likethe like the fact that I liked
going to do batutera you knowit's like baton twirling I'm

(35:17):
just saying it in spanish forpeople who don't know, but like
I was like really into doing uhand dancing con doña felita and
like we would all like I thoughtI was puerto rican for like the
first, I don't know eight yearsof my life because we would
always sing.
You know we can't do and do thething and do this.
You know the whole thing.

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (35:45):
For context, Doña Felita, she was the lady
who choreographed all the girlsfor the Puerto Rican parade to
do all the baton twirling andall that.
Yeah, yeah.

Carmen Lezeth (35:49):
And I was addicted to it.
I mean, I loved it because allof a sudden I loved like just
performing and stuff and then.
So then we moved up to Forbesstreet, which was, like you know
, the white side of town.
I don't know why, but we and soSt Thomas Aquinas, the church
was like across the street fromus, and so my mother went over
there and they were, you know,she was looking for activities

(36:10):
for me to do and there was likecolor guard drum corps band and
I was like can I?
And of course my mom was like,yeah, it became.
And I was like can I?
And of course my mom was likeyeah, it became like I was
obsessed with it, but I don'tthink my mother ever.
It's not that she didn't careabout it, but she didn't care
about it.
That was not her priority.
She was trying to make moneyfor the fans a different time.

(36:31):
You know, and the reason why Iknow this to be true is not to
disrespect my mother, but mymother's other children also
didn't care about it, Even aftershe died, like that was part of
the problem is, you know, I wasthis Americana, I was this, I
was a different kid, I wasn'tlike them, you know.
And, um, I don't know if she.

(36:52):
What I'm saying is, although Ilove what you said, Rick, I
don't think my mother would haveever been like, oh, with this,
let me look at the video I don'tthink it was that important to
her because culturally it wasn't.
Does that make sense?

Rick Costa (37:03):
You don't think she realized how much it meant to
you.

Carmen Lezeth (37:07):
No, it's a, it's a cultural thing.
It was more like a big.
I'm not trying to disrespect mymother, I just I don't want to
believe things that are notfactual for me.

Alma Dawson (37:25):
You know what I mean, because then it actually
takes away what I do remember ofmy mom.
Okay, what I'm gonna yell, Ithink I will, I'll, I wanna, yes
.
Second, what you're saying,that it's definitely cultural.
Yeah, definitely cultural.
Um, and I guess, because I mymom says I came out of the womb
fighting, I was always veryvocal, very, always very vocal,
like this day is my performance.

(37:48):
This day is my performance andyou have to be there.
Like you have to be there.
My teacher says you have to bethere.
And so, since my parents alwaysmade it such a thing of the
teachers are the authorityfigure, well, my teacher said
you have to be there.
And so, since my parents alwaysmade it such a thing of the
teachers are the authorityfigure, well, my teacher said
you have to be there.
So here's the information.
It's on the fridge, it's onlike I'm reminding you, like a

(38:09):
month before, a week before, theday before that morning, like,
so somebody is going to be there.
Like I was always that kid.

Carmen Lezeth (38:19):
Yeah, I was, was not when I told you I was shy
and you guys all laughed at me.
Cynthia, could you imagine me?
You remember your mother, evenif you don't remember my mother.

Alma Dawson (38:27):
Could you imagine telling your mother okay, I need
you to go to my show, becausethe teacher said no, and, and I,
and the thing is that, if youknow my dad, my dad, my dad is
this hard.
Hard.
I respected my father.

(38:48):
I still respect him.
It was that fear.
I was like, whatever Look fear.

Rick Costa (39:02):
But it was that fear and I was like whatever look
and so it was.

Alma Dawson (39:08):
You know, I mean, I think that's why my father and
I always went toe to toe, but atthe same time my father also
encouraged that in me because Iwas so, I was very from the time
that I was born.
So he always, he alwaysinstilled that in me Be strong,

(39:31):
you're.
You know God loves you.
It was all of these things thathe just poured into me.
So then I was a result of allthe things that he poured into
me.
So then it was kind of like,well, you made me like this, and
that's what I would tell him.
I was like you, you did it.
So you know, now you got it.

Carmen Lezeth (39:47):
I'm jealous and you're brave.
Yeah, I think for me it wasmore about it.
This was I look at, I remembercertain things when I was really
little.
I do remember certaininteractions with my mom again
in the book Don't say the nameof it again Canela, canela,

(40:07):
right, but it's just one ofthose things where it's like
it's what I remember about meand dancing, especially
especially when I wouldespecially the break dancing and
all that stuff, cause that wasmy time period.
Right, you're talking aboutflash dance, fame.
You're talking about that time.
Man, I was fucking so good too.
Yeah, I was fucking.
Yeah, I was so good.

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (40:27):
You could have done the Olympics.

Alma Dawson (40:29):
I should have Well yes you could have.

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (40:33):
because of that Australian woman I'm saying
that was the Australian.

Carmen Lezeth (40:37):
because of that australian right.
That was a disgrace.
Yeah, that was a disgrace Icould have done it now and done
it better okay that's aclarifying question go ahead go
back to what you were saying.
You were great I think, becauseit was such, I knew that my
mother, first of it, was morelike she's busy.
I always knew that you don'tbother her or whatever If she

(41:00):
wants to talk to you.
And my mother wasn't mean oranything, it was like a respect
thing, it was a culture thing.
But I think I also knew for meit was a private thing that if I
tried to share it with herbecause she wasn't really
interested in it or it wasn'tthat important to her, it would
somehow take away from it.
You know what I mean?
Cynthia, you were really quietas a kid too.

(41:22):
You would have never, nobodywould have told your mother that
.

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (41:27):
Diane would have been the only one, my older
sister, she would have been theonly one to talk back to my mom
and those two would have beenat mom and then get kicked out
of her.
Yep, and then get kicked out,taking her keys away.
Oh yeah, no, the rest of usforget it.
You look at my mother, wrong?
Oh no, no, no, my father for meyeah.

Alma Dawson (41:48):
Yeah, and I'll tell you, my dad was super strict.
He was super strict but all ofmy older siblings did whatever
the heck they wanted and thenwhen it came down to me, I was
on lockdown.
And I think that because I wason lockdown and I couldn't do
stuff with my friends thatwasn't school involved.

(42:11):
That's why I was so adamantOkay, I'm doing all the school
stuff, you better be at myschool stuff, rick what about
you, I mean.

Maurio Dawson (42:17):
I know you that's the one she went to prom with,
oh god why are you?

Carmen Lezeth (42:23):
doing this to me who'd you go to?
Prom with I don't know herbrother her marine brother.

Maurio Dawson (42:33):
That's wrong dirty low downdown.
Shameful, Just shameful.

Alma Dawson (42:37):
I mean, I love my brother.
You know, he did that for me.

Carmen Lezeth (42:39):
No, no, it's not about your brother, because I'm
sure he didn't want to go withme either.

Alma Dawson (42:44):
Well, he didn't.

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (42:45):
You know what I'm saying.

Alma Dawson (42:47):
Exactly, but he did it for me because if he didn't
go with me I wouldn't have goneRight, wouldn't have gone right,
so you know.
So he did that for me.
So you know, yeah, it was abummer, but I still got to go.
I still got to go and dancewith my friends and do the
pictures and I got a prettydress made and of course it had
to be white because he waswearing his dress blues.
But anyways I digress I stillgot to do it.

(43:10):
So I'm grateful to my brotherbecause he still went ahead and
went with but that's his namehis name.
Let's give him a shout out.
Yeah, david, love you, david.

Carmen Lezeth (43:19):
David Love you.

Alma Dawson (43:19):
David.

Rick Costa (43:21):
My father said to us if you want to go anywhere, you
got to be home by 10.
I was like by 10 is whenthey're starting to gather.
What are you talking about?
I didn't go nowhere, I didn'tdo nothing.
I did nothing.

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (43:31):
I'd be home by the time the streetlights
come on.

Maurio Dawson (43:35):
That's even early .

Carmen Lezeth (43:38):
Let me ask you this question After you win all
this money right, you have allthis money, we're in that space,
or whatever Is there somethingthat you will keep exactly the
same that you do today, whetherit's in your daily life or if
it's like maybe you'll get ridof Juan Cynthia, I'm just
kidding, I'm going to get rid ofwine when it's over.

(43:58):
I was just wondering is theresomething that you would do that
you still do today, that youwould not be able to even let go
of Interesting?

Maurio Dawson (44:13):
I would still go to our favorite restaurant, our
little coffee shop, stuff likethat, because everyday people
wouldn't know.
I would make sure they wouldn'tknow.

Alma Dawson (44:23):
I would stay in our neighborhood.
Actually Lies, Lies.

Carmen Lezeth (44:29):
In.

Alma Dawson (44:29):
California, just here.
But I'm saying I would stay inthe vicinity?

Maurio Dawson (44:33):
Yeah, true, in the vicinity, because I do love
our neighborhood.

Carmen Lezeth (44:37):
Yeah, I think people would know because you'd
have to divulge in California.
You can't stay Not.

Maurio Dawson (44:44):
everybody doesn't have to know If I'm going to my
regular cafe and you know.
If they don't know my name, youdon't know.

Carmen Lezeth (44:51):
Right, right, right, you would buy the cafe.
No, I'm just kidding.

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (44:56):
I was going to say you don't know, right,
right, right, you would buy thecafe.
No, I'm just kidding.

Maurio Dawson (44:58):
I was gonna say, warner, probably still go to
dunkin donuts, but he'llprobably own one by then right,
right invest invest right, rightright yeah, I just remembered.

Rick Costa (45:06):
I saw a video the other day.
I can't believe.
I just remembered it.
Now they said say you're amillionaire and tell me you are
a marvel fan without sayingyou're a marvel fan.
And this guy literally hadlife-size statues all around his
house of all the Marvelcharacters Thor, hulk, blah,
blah, blah Life-size statues allaround his house.

Carmen Lezeth (45:22):
That's a little creepy, though, right no?

Maurio Dawson (45:24):
not.
If you're a fan, you're theRick Syken.

Carmen Lezeth (45:28):
That's what I would do.
All right, rick, I don't knowif I would do that.

Rick Costa (45:33):
I don't know if I would do that.
I don't know if I would do thatOkay.

Carmen Lezeth (45:36):
What would you do , cause I feel like it's soon.

Rick Costa (45:38):
As far as what I would still do, I would probably
still broadcast, but I'd havelike a decked out studio like
really cool looking oh yeah,yeah, see.
And I would probably like, aslong as mom was still here, I'd
probably still still keepchecking her constantly.
She'd have her own wing, though, with her own private people.

Alma Dawson (45:55):
You can get your day off.

Rick Costa (46:02):
And get my day off.
Maybe I'll get Carmen a day off.

Carmen Lezeth (46:08):
We will never live that down.
I made a mistake.
Learn that children Never makeone mistake.
It will haunt you forever.

Rick Costa (46:19):
And then in my awesome, amazing studio we could
have all y'all join me all thetime.
Fly you in and everything yeah.

Maurio Dawson (46:27):
There you go.
I'm here for it.

Carmen Lezeth (46:29):
Yeah, all right, cynthia.

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (46:31):
I would have a game room, but a game room
with all the old school like Sacman arcade yeah, all of those.
That's what I want.
That's my dream.

Maurio Dawson (46:44):
I'm coming to your house.

Carmen Lezeth (46:46):
That would be fun that would be fun, you have
pinball machines too.
Yes, can we also have like abowling alley?
Can we have like a?
Not that I love bowling, but Iwant the aura of that.
Can we have that like maybe acouple of?

Maurio Dawson (46:59):
well, you know, now they make the miniature
bowling alley, so they have.

Carmen Lezeth (47:02):
You don't have to have a full one she's a
millionaire, she's a hundredmillion dollars you can get like
a regular one could be like awhole other, not a wing like a
whole other.
She could just build a wholebuilding on her estate.
It would be a game room, a gamebuilding.

Maurio Dawson (47:18):
That's too much space.

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (47:19):
Do you?

Carmen Lezeth (47:19):
have an outdoor bowling or indoor bowling.
I'm going to have a movietheater.
I'm going to have one of themfly movie theaters.

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (47:26):
You know what I mean.

Alma Dawson (47:30):
In my house.
Elevator Got to make sure Ihave an elevator for all the
food I would have to have mycraft room.

Carmen Lezeth (47:42):
There will be no craft room in my home.

Alma Dawson (47:44):
No craft room, they'll go back to each other Go
back and forth, she and I.

Carmen Lezeth (47:51):
If you had to live in one location forever you
have many homes where would itbe?
You guys would stay here inCalifornia, I would.
I would.
Mario seems like he's thinking.

Alma Dawson (48:06):
Switzerland.
Oh well, yeah, that would beour other place.

Maurio Dawson (48:09):
Yes, that would be our other place, switzerland.
Zurich, zurich yeah for sure.

Carmen Lezeth (48:13):
You see how I felt that.
I felt it, I was like I feellike he's thinking, he's like oh
, we could do half and half.

Maurio Dawson (48:20):
It would be here and there, it would be half and
half for sure.

Carmen Lezeth (48:21):
Rick, your mom is taking care of nurses around
the clock.

Rick Costa (48:25):
blah, blah it's hard for me to say.
I've been around a whole lot ofplaces to say like, oh yeah,
that would be a good spotbecause I've just been here all
the time.
I'm not saying I'm never goingto go anywhere.

Carmen Lezeth (48:35):
You wouldn't have a house in Portugal.

Rick Costa (48:40):
Maybe Then I could just rent it out when I'm not
there.
That's what I'm saying.
There you go.

Carmen Lezeth (48:46):
See how I'm helping you all.
I just want you to remember I'mhere to assist you when you
make your millions.
You know what I mean.
Help me, help you and pay myass is what I'm thinking.

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (48:58):
I want a villa in.

Alma Dawson (49:00):
Italy.
I think that what we would dois all of us would be go in
together on all of theseproperties so that we could all
house jump.
That would be really cool.
We can come to Zurich, we cango to Portugal, go to Italy.
There would be investmentproperties but we can come to
Zurich, we can go to Portugal,go to Italy, there would be
investment properties, but wewould also go stay there and

(49:20):
then rent them out when we'renot there, right, yeah?

Carmen Lezeth (49:24):
I would actually.
I love California so much Iwould stay in California for
sure.
I don't know if I would stay inSanta Monica or the Palisades.
Well, you know, god bless thePalisades.
I just feel.
Although Santa Monica or thePalisades, Well you know, God
bless the Palisades.
I just feel, uh, although oneof my clients is rebuilding,
which is amazing.
Uh, it's going to take a year.
So many people are rebuilding.
Of course they are.

Alma Dawson (49:44):
Um but.

Rick Costa (49:45):
I think I would probably move to Santa Barbara
Huh.
Three years Wow.

Carmen Lezeth (49:50):
Uh, I think it's only because, well, they're
saying when everything iscompletely done, but now they're
applying for permits and youknow they're still taking out
debris.
So every time, I go to work.
You can only go on this part ofthe Pacific Coast Highway if you
live in the area, and so I haveto loop around because that's

(50:12):
where I go to get on the freewayand the trucks, it's all the
dumpster trucks are the onesthat are going in as we're
trying to go out and they're.
It's huge and that's every day,every day going and coming.
So when I come home I see them.
So that's a lot of debris toget rid of.
You know what I mean.
So they're still working onthat.

(50:32):
So I think that's why they'resaying like three years and that
it'll be all said and done.
But yeah, they redesigned thehouse and they're looking at the
houses that didn't experienceany fire because of their modern
way in which they were built.
There are homes that every homearound them burnt, and then
these modern ass beautiful homesthat have, like fire retardant,

(50:54):
blah, blah, blah and the way inwhich the wind of the fire will
flow and all this.
I mean I've never respected somuch the whole idea of design
and architecture when it comesto learn so much with this fire
stuff, because it's not justdesigning a house, it's
designing it so that it canwithstand so many engineering to

(51:14):
the materials.
Yeah, so it's been interesting.
but yeah, one of them isrebuilding, the other one's not,
which is interesting yeah, butI would stay here, huh the one
that's not as moving somewhereelse, or oh, they have other
homes, yeah, yeah, the, the, thetwo they're two clients of.
So these are people who have alot of money.

(51:36):
So the other one they're justchoosing not to.
They have another home up northin California.
So I problem with it, notnecessarily these clients.
People buy all this stuff andthen these homes sit empty and

(52:00):
they're paying staff to takecare of the landscaping and take
care of the whatever and blah,blah, blah and for what I don't
understand.
And some of them don't visit,like you would think, oh, but
maybe they go there in thesummer.
You can't go to 10 homes in ayear and use them no, you can't
and you don't want to do airbnbwith the I mean some of them do

(52:20):
um, then they get upset becausepeople break stuff or whatever
and you don't want people inyour homes, you know.
But it's to me that's a weirdluxury that I will never
understand.
I will never understand theneed to have 10 huge mansions or
three huge mansions for myself.
I don't get it.

Maurio Dawson (52:40):
I'd buy apartments, I'd buy true
investment property.
To me that's different.
Make it make sense.
If you're going to buy property, get a return from it.
You know what I'm saying, thatI would do.

Carmen Lezeth (52:55):
I think they think that someday they'll sell
it.
So the idea is I agree with you, but again, so we think one way
and then the people I work forthink another way.
They buy it because it willincrease in value and when they
die, when they leave it to theirchildren, their children will
now have this valuable piece ofproperty.
So they're thinking the samething, like you are.
It's an investment, it's just abigger investment and you don't

(53:18):
have to deal with renters or amanagement company or all the
crap that comes with peopleliving in your property.
I think it's wasteful.
I think it's part of theAmerican dream, part that's
ridiculous and I don't know whenit became have as much material
crap as possible, but don't useit.
I don't get it.

Maurio Dawson (53:39):
But you know, as my kid says, if you love it, go
off.

Carmen Lezeth (53:47):
All right, well, what else?
Last thoughts on the issue ofwinning millions of dollars.

Maurio Dawson (53:55):
Don't call me, I'll call you.

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (54:00):
Right, oh, I don't know, man, just don't be
greedy with money.
Money's not everything.
Yeah, just do what makes youhappy, and that's it.

Carmen Lezeth (54:15):
Rick.

Rick Costa (54:17):
I think it's in the Bible.
It says naked I came into theworld and naked I will leave.
So for me it's very temporary.
If you have the ability to help, there's nothing more
fulfilling than helping people,in my opinion.
Maybe some people are different, but to me helping people is
very fulfilling.
Are different, but to mehelping people is very
fulfilling because you know whyall this money and you're just

(54:40):
sitting there doing what?
When people are in desperateneed of help and you can help
them.

Carmen Lezeth (54:45):
Not even in desperate need of help.
I mean, I agree with you, butyou could also just help people
who'd like a shot.
Like I wish I didn't have towork 50 hours a week and focus
more on something like this, onall about the joy.
You know, our Friday night showis growing so rapidly because
you know what People needcommunity People need a place to

(55:06):
go and hang out.
Why couldn't somebody who hasmillions of dollars be like you
know what?
Let's drop a few hundredthousand dollars on this show
and see where it could go.
Maybe it could pop up in otheravenues other days.
Maybe there's a way in whichthis could build.

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (55:21):
I mean, look , we got viewers from England
and Italy chiming in on Fridays.
We don't even know, right.
And it's like three o'clock inthe morning for them.
But that's kind of the thing.

Alma Dawson (55:34):
Go ahead Jumping off for them.
But that's kind of the thing goahead like jumping off of what
rick is saying yeah, you can'ttake it with you.
I love hearing when people goin and they just like pay all
the layaways off yes and youknow those type of things.
Like you know what I'm saying,but it's like I love hearing
that type of stuff.
Like, okay, I'm, I'm going togo into the supermarket and I'm

(55:57):
just going to drop this money.
All the people who come intoday, all of their groceries
are free.
Don't tell them as they'reringing now, it's paid for.
You know what I'm saying.
Like that type of stuff, it'slike those are the type of
things that I would love to beable to do in a bigger way,
because I know you do themanyways.

Carmen Lezeth (56:16):
I know I do them.
I think I already mentionedthis before, but I always put
$20 in my little bag ofrecycling cans that I leave out
there and I just walk away.
You know what I mean.
No one's out there, but I knowthat they're going to go through
them because they crush them sothey can fit more, and I know
they're going to find that $20.

Cynthia Ruiz Lopez (56:39):
I'm like you know, like I just feel happy
now when you drop off your kids.

Carmen Lezeth (56:43):
What's your address again, what time do you
drop them off?
Simple things like that.
But I know what you mean.
I'm like if I could do more, Iwould do more, no matter what
your financial situation is.

Alma Dawson (56:56):
You can always do good and you can always help,
even if it's just you seesomeone outside of the store, go
in, buy, buy some snacks, buysome water and, just you know,
give it to them, you know give ablessing.
I mean, it would be nasty,exactly be like, exactly Exactly
.
And it's like.
You know, I've never um,because I was that way when I

(57:19):
was a child.
I would see someone and I wouldjust like I couldn't eat
because they were outside and Iknew that they were hungry.
That's right, and so I would.
Literally I would take my foodand I would take it to them and
then my mom would look at me andthen she'd go order me some
more food and then I'd be ableto eat.

Carmen Lezeth (57:35):
But we've lost that.
You know that for some reasonwe've lost that instinct of
taking.
That's why I was talking aboutmy mentors earlier, like I wish
people now cared as much aboutthe neighbor's kids as they do
about their dogs.
Like it's hard for me to thinkI'm doing so well, and there's a

(57:58):
homeless person who can't eat.

Maurio Dawson (58:01):
Can I say something real quick, Shout out
to my wife, Because of my wife?
My daughter for a long timemade packs, little Ziploc packs
with face towels, toothpaste,little care packages.
That's so cool.
I'm going to keep them in thetrunk of the car.
If she saw somebody who neededit, she's like Mommy, pull over.

(58:21):
She'd run and get it out.

Alma Dawson (58:22):
the trunk, we'd put not a lot like you.
Five, ten sometimes a twentyand we would put a Bible verse
in there.
God bless you.

Maurio Dawson (58:35):
We're not trying to preach to you, just hand it
to you.

Carmen Lezeth (58:37):
Yeah, exactly, I think I think giving a blessing
is a kindness.
It doesn't have to, it doesn'thave to be justified in any way.
I look at, I appreciate theconversation.
It's not where I thought it wasgoing to go, but that's what I
love about these private loungesit's just so much fun and we
just get on a roll.
So, thank you so much.
Thank you for being here and,yeah, I hope people learned a

(58:58):
little something At the veryleast.
I know I learned a lot aboutthe character of who all the
people are on this show, so I amjust so grateful.
I know right.
So, thank you everyone.
Remember, join us on Fridaynights, 6 pm Pacific, 9 pm
Eastern.

Rick Costa (59:18):
That's 3 am in England.

Carmen Lezeth (59:22):
And, yes, and always on Sundays, our private
lounges will air, always at 12o'clock Pacific, 3 pm Eastern,
and I don't know what time inEngland, but you can look it up
and yeah, that's it.
Thank you everyone.
We'll see you next time andremember, at the end of the day,
it really is all about the joy.
Bye, everyone, Bye.
Thanks for stopping by.

(59:44):
All About the Joy Be better andstay beautiful folks.
Have a sweet day.