This week on catchiNG Up, Peter sits down with William Woods — trading card store owner, political organizer, DSA Orlando chapter member, miniature painter, former YouTuber, and a self-described "very autistic" person who once walked a leash-trained Nile monitor around a Georgia high school. To say William has had a non-traditional path is an understatement.

The conversation kicks off exactly where you'd expect — a near-drowning experience involving a speedboat, an inner tube, and William's deep conviction that open water is simply evil. From there, Peter and William trace a winding road through military kid life, relocating every three years, and what it's like to be uprooted at 14 and dropped into deep South Bible Belt, Georgia, where the options were essentially church, Walmart, or drugs. (William chose World of Warcraft. Arguably the right call.)

Along the way, they dig into how William turned a beat-up base set Charizard into a business during COVID — and how Collectible Squids grew from a side hustle into a community-centered store with a no-Nazis, no-scalpers, sell-under-MSRP policy that has earned a dedicated, queer-friendly following. Oh, and how a shoutout from a niche Warhammer podcast crashed his website. Twice.

But it doesn't stay lighthearted. William opens up about navigating autism without a diagnosis as a kid, bottling anger he didn't have the tools to process, the struggle of asking for help in an environment that didn't understand panic attacks (or much else), and why therapy was the thing that finally helped him get his act together. His take on mental health is exactly the kind of grounded, no-pretense honesty this show lives for: "You can get irritable bowel syndrome. You can also get irritable brain syndrome. It's an organ just like anything else."

There's also a real conversation about the ethics of loving things made by overworked people — from anime production culture in Japan to gaming industry unions forming right now — and how William thinks about running a business where profit above bills goes right back into the community.

His answer to what growth looks like today? "Everything that is mine is and should always be yours." He's not just saying it. He means it.

If you're a fan of trading cards, Warhammer, reptiles, niche internet history, or just a really honest conversation about figuring yourself out — this one's for you.

📍 Find William and Collectible Squids at collectiblesquids.com and in store at Almighty Boba Café near UCF in Oviedo, FL.