Episode 23 🌬️ Life's Whirlwind: Navigating Knee Aches, Appliance Renovations and Wardrobe Revamps

Ever found yourself in the throes of a knee injury, tossing and turning at night, while your mum plans a major oven upgrade for the perfect roast potatoes? That’s the kind of chaos I found myself in this week and I can't wait to share it with you. From my journey of pain management, amusing anecdotes about the oven installation guy, to my cat's strange fascination with his leg, it's been a whirlwind of experiences.

I also embarked on a spring cleaning spree - my bathroom and wardrobe to be specific. I found joy in decluttering, organizing, and updating my wardrobe, which has been expanding to include my brother's and mum's. I discovered how sobriety can impact how my clothes fit and how it led me to explore personal fashion sense beyond neutral colors. Plus, I ventured into skincare territory, sharing my latest discoveries. 

As if that wasn't enough, I found myself reevaluating my finances and dabbling in investments, all while trying to find a new hobby. Listen to my deep dive into risky investment options, my research on compounding interest, and my journey towards finding a suitable hobby. But amidst all this, I also share the challenges of dealing with a knee injury, the overwhelming advice, and my determination to heal for an upcoming family cruise. Join me as I celebrate small victories like achieving a two-week sobriety goal, the joy of decluttering, and the significance of self-care. Sounds like a rollercoaster, doesn't it? Trust me, it is!

Theordinary.com <---- Skincare website 
https://milfordasset.com/ <----- The website to see if your ready for retirment based off your current investements, super easy, worth a look now so you dont suffer later, 
Swipe Wipe app for camera storage cleaning, 10/10
Lip Mask $4 from Kmart for moisturised lips  

Up the Wahs :-) 

Transcript

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Refresh, Redesign, and Upgrades

Speaker 1 0:13

Hey everyone , welcome back . It is the Danny Dot Podcast . I'm your host , Danny , and I hope that I sound better . This pod , because , my gosh , that last pod , oh , my gosh .

Speaker 1 0:25

I can safely say I was probably too much under the influence of Tremadol . I hadn't taken it , but I still had the effects rolling around as pain relief and I don't know . I had lots of brain fog and I was like crook . I had a head cold . I was miserable . I just I still wanted to get the podcast out to you guys because my knee injury was definitely something to talk about .

Speaker 1 0:49

But a week on , I worked all of last week and I said to my boss on Friday I am going to take some hectic pain relief over the weekend , get heaps of rest , because one thing about this knee injury is that it wakes you every couple of hours because , for whatever reason , the knee that has a mind of its own and hates everything and just hurts me . So I've had broken sleep for about three weeks now and I don't know . So I slept probably 30 hours . This weekend has gone and I feel so much better . It rained for a big chunk of it , so we had the spring rain and it was beautiful . There's nothing better than waking up Sunday and there's rain and all you want to do is just have a cup of coffee in bed and watch some like Netflix . I went to say DVD then , oh my gosh , how old am I ? I have just thrown out onto the lawn just right out of my bedroom window I don't know , some stale toast for Kasia , stuff that we were eating over the weekend , and there is like literally 70 birds on this little piece of bread . Hey guys , like I've got more , I'll give it to you in a minute , but hey , this is my September sweet pod .

Speaker 1 2:06

I will come back and talk more about some update on my knee and everything later , but I have been approached about talking . You know all the things that spring and what we can do to refresh ourselves , and I was thinking , holy moly , am I like the Martha Stewart of New Zealand ? Like why am I being asked to talk about this ? I definitely . I would say I have my finger on the pulse when it comes to these kinds of trends and I don't know . I think living with mum is just really easy and we have this routine , which is something she only said two weeks ago . How do you know how to do all this refresh type stuff and I was like I don't know , I think I've done it for like maybe a year and she hasn't noticed . And now she's like what's that that ? I thought that maybe we could have a bit of a quick discussion on and obviously we are halfway through September , so I didn't manage to get this to you to start September , you know , organised .

Speaker 1 3:03

I would hope that maybe you've taken a few things from my previous pods and I don't know I implemented in some way or another . I mean the basic stuff changing from winter sheets to summer sheets . I did that on Saturday and I feel like I did it too soon . I was a bit preemptive with that . It was a little bit cold still . Someone said is this time for me to cut my toenails ? I don't know how to answer that . I feel like you need to keep on top of your own toenail cutting please .

Speaker 1 3:34

However , we are at the moment upgrading the house in different ways and I don't know if I've told you guys , but this house that I'm in was built . We actually got the keys on my 30th birthday . I was still living in Australia at the time . Me and Mum sat in the living room floor the night we got the keys and we ate fish and chips off the carpet and , oh , that sounds really terrible , but there was paper in between the carpet and the meal and we drank wine out of coffee mugs . That's all we could do at the time . We didn't have any furniture in the property , but I was so excited to be here when all this happened . It was just one of those things .

Speaker 1 4:13

However , old Soos well , she has gone to sell the house twice and it freaks out and can't do it . So I feel like when they first built it , the appliances and you know different things were stock standard . It was . You know that was what it was . Back then she was like I don't want any attachment to it , I'm going to sell the property .

Speaker 1 4:35

Six years on and she's thinking , okay , well , there's different things that we definitely need to upgrade because , for whatever reason , we need them , and one of which is Mum's love of roast potatoes . She wanted to upgrade the oven to a air what do you call it ? Fan bake , and so this oven came from somewhere . It took three weeks to get to New Zealand and then it got installed last Monday . It took her a whole week to use it and only last night that she managed to make a roast and it was funny . She said to me oh , I think the roast potatoes would take 45 minutes to crisp up . So , just like , put the timer on 45 minutes . I was , I was using the instruction manual . I was like this is stupid , I don't know how to use this thing . They took 15 minutes . The meat wasn't even ready by the time the potatoes were . But , um , yeah , that was . That was a whole thing in itself . But even when the dude was installing it last Monday , my cat was licking his leg . I don't know what was on his leg , but my cat was fascinated .

Speaker 1 5:37

So no , we're slowly walking around the house and we're doing these massive things that will help us . You know , love the property even more . She says that , but I love the house has is . I don't care . But I was thinking to myself and I was holding up in my bed .

Speaker 1 5:53

Over the weekend I have literally moved into my bedroom and not done anything since the only thing I've upgraded is my actual desk for my work from home roll . That had to be done . I had to move to a stand up because the poxy little Kmart $45 piece of MDF that I first had compressed my body too much . I was sitting in this chair . The desk was up on my bits of two by four . It was elevated to be you know something . I put my legs under . It was horrible , but honestly , the desk is the only thing . So I was sort of thinking around . You know how do I redesign my bedroom and upgrade the things that are in it ? Throw some stuff out , you know , put the winter stuff away . Is it even too early for me to say that I feel like it is ? Did it try and snow last night in Queenstown ? I think it did . But also like out with the old and with the new , and that's why I'm super excited . I've also decided I'm never gonna be artsy or crochet , so that stuff goes to the Salvation Army or I don't even know someone . Someone else can have all that crochet stuff . That was like a short lived attempt at being artsy and crafty , which I'm definitely not .

Speaker 1 7:10

I was at Bunnings yesterday with mum getting some . What were we getting ? I don't even remember . I think we were just there , because sometimes you go to Mitre Thym , but you should really go to Bunnings for some things . Anyway , I came across this propagation station , which is super cool . It's where you take like plot kippings and you , you know , make them into like a normal sized plant again from growth . But in some ways they sit them in these little like jars of water . Anyway , mum almost had kittens . She was like we're not propagating the plants we already have . We can't , there's no room to put anything . And here's me , just like right , oh , we'll go down the sewerage aisle and we'll find somewhere to put all the plants . So it was terrible . I'm not allowed to propagate anymore . I don't have any room to put plants and I'm not about to set up a table at the end of the driveway and sell plants . That's not me .

Spring Cleaning and Fashion Updating

Speaker 1 8:07

So we've started with the storage thing , which is really funny . I I'm one of those people that has heaps of chemist things like I love all the makeup and skincare and tanning and hair straighteners and just things . And so I said to mum there is nothing in my bedroom , my bathroom , for storage that I don't already use . So we got this thing . I think it's meant to be for shoes , but you hang it over the bathroom door and there's like 24 pockets and you can just put stuff in it . Oh , I got so excited . I'm not even kidding . It was like 10 o'clock last night and I was putting things in pockets and I was rearranging things and I was getting organized . I was so excited . But I don't know , I'm one of those people that I would definitely admit I'm more visual than anything else . If something's in front of me , I'll use it . So I hate it when things are in cabinets or away because I just forget about it . I buy more of it . I'm just , I'm a menace .

Speaker 1 9:09

So this morning when I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth and I turned around and I got sort of a fright . I was like , oh my God , everything was all spacious and clean and there was this beautiful hanger thing on the back of the door . Even my cat was like what is this ? Because you can't open the door , or you yeah , it's sort of got this bit of a restriction now because there's pockets so it doesn't open as wide . But no , I was really impressed . And then old Soos was like we're going to get more of these things , aren't we ? Because you need one on the back of your bedroom door for all your shit on your desk . And I was like what shit on my desk ? Now I'm sitting here . I'm like , oh , I see it . So that was really exciting .

Speaker 1 9:48

It was my little bathroom attempt at spring cleaning . I threw out heaps of stuff and you know I think we've been over this on skincare . But on the back of all your skincare products is this little sort of container picture and it's got a number in . It could be 612 , 1824 . That's how many months you were supposed to keep your product from when you open it . So there are definitely things that I've grown up and I've just sort of stopped using . My skin regime has certainly changed . I'll come back to that . Actually , there's something I've got to discuss , but you know , out with the old and with the new definitely started in the bathroom .

Speaker 1 10:24

I'm yet to sort of do anything in the bedroom . To be quite honest , I'm looking , I have this wall and what I really want to do is get this really awesome like storage unit , that deep and has like like a closed off front . And the reason I say this is because anyone who's listening to my pod , who is part of a zoom call from work , knows that when you call me or you see , behind me is this open cabinet of clothes and it's never shut . There's never any like privacy . So I want to get this really cool , like entertainment unit almost , with baskets and things where I could just fill it up and put heaps of shit aside .

Speaker 1 11:05

My wardrobe is the size of my arm in length . Wise , it's absolutely tiny and I've probably I use my wardrobe , my brother's wardrobe in this house because Tom , he still uses the bedroom and mum's wardrobe . I've literally spread down the house . So I definitely want to do a bit of a cleanup , because these types of outfits that I've grown out of I'm really proud to say that I'm like no , that was not a vibe at the time . I don't know why I tried to wear that . But also not hanging on to clothes because you think you're going to lose weight and fit back into things .

Speaker 1 11:40

I am two weeks sober tomorrow not voluntary . I literally got off the plane and I started on pain relief and the amount of advice that came from people that said , hey , danny , don't mix tremidol and codeine with alcohol . I didn't really have any idea that that was what I was going to be doing anyway . But my health comes first . So I have been two weeks sober and it's so good because my clothes are fitting different again . So I went to throw out some stuff last night and I was like oh no , it fits again .

Speaker 1 12:18

But also I noticed when I was in Australia a lot of people wear active wear , not so much like bright . Well , yeah , they do wear brightly colored active wear . I don't own staples , and when I say staples I mean your black and white t-shirts , your just neutrals . You know I have a lot of like floral stuff , things that don't match . So I said to mum I definitely need to get myself organized and throw out some of the patterned stuff that's like I don't know , I won't pick up again . When you go to grab something , you don't grab that . But I picked up a black t-shirt on Thursday last week and I started wearing it around the house and mum was like you look really different when you wear like leggings and a black top and I'm like I feel like I look slimmer , like I'm like Sonic the Hedgehog zooming around the house . I wasn't , I was limping . So I think , when it comes to the age is definitely like where do we find our fashion sense ? Is what I'm saying Like I need to get rid of some things and I'm not turning to Kim Kardashian and just relying on neutrals of like black and white and nude and everything , because , heaven forbid , I don't suit nude , but yeah , that's where I'm sort of aiming myself at the moment . I'm super excited to as well , because , I don't know , it's a refreshing thing and when it's winter and you're all cooped up and then you get to do things like this , it's so nice . Open all the windows in your house , get a bit of fresh air and you'll like recover a whole lot quicker , that's for sure .

Speaker 1 13:52

I have listened to some podcasts recently and I've got to say I spend Monday and Tuesday lining up , just I don't know different things I want to listen into and just get ideas from . Basically , I have a mentor that helps me with my part and he was saying the other day you don't edit yours , do you ? And I was like , no , can you tell ? I feel like with you guys , I don't want to edit . It's really raw , it's natural . However , this part I was listening to , she , I don't know . She was sponsored by a shampoo brand and she dropped the name like 30 times in 10 minutes and she broke twice for ad breaks about the shampoo and I said , holy shit , I will never advertise stuff like is profitable through this podcast for you guys . No , it's going to be one of those things . That is natural , because I try it and I feel like you guys might need a bit of assistance in trying or helping with something . It's not in any way because I'm influenced by something to say you've got to do this .

Speaker 1 14:56

The only thing that I feel like lately I have bought because I saw it on social media and I was like shit , I need that Is my damn ninja creamy . And let me tell you , on Saturday we were watching a movie and mum said have you got any ice cream stored away ? And I was like , yeah , I've got . What did ? I have Boys and Berry and cream ice cream in one jar and peaches and cream in another jar . And then I said to her but I've got some aunt Betty's steamed puddings or whipped cream as well , and she still chose peaches and cream ice cream . So I had to whip that up .

Speaker 1 15:33

But honestly , we are using it probably every second day and right now I'm perfecting a recipe for some family that's visiting on the 22nd of October who are . One of them is like really into fruit , and I can totally see that this is . I have to perfect this fruit recipe . And the other one is really into chocolate . So I want to perfect the McFlurry this week and then I was .

Speaker 1 15:59

I pushed all the buttons on the damn machine . This is the only thing I'm definitely influenced by . However , I don't know if you guys know this , but to make gelato you need like to use like a saucepan . So you need like eight no , it was like four egg yolks , sugar , I don't know . You need to make like a real weird base , and right now the price of eggs . I was walking around and I was like I can't do it . What if I did it ? And it turned out wrong . So right now I'm doing a condensed milk , vanilla McFlurry type thing and I'm trying out to see all that . But also I know my brother's coming over from Queenstown sometime in the next seven days and I want to give him the most delicious McFlurry type ice cream with all the chocolate things that are going to give him diabetes . Because he is as thin as a rake . He works way too hard and I want to just spoil him . But I also think that this machine he will be quite interested in it . He doesn't really understand what it is . I've tried explaining it a few times and he's like what .

Speaker 1 17:10

But the other day I actually perfected the thick shake we made vanilla and chocolate ice cream and I thought it was a bit grainy . It tasted a bit too , I don't know . There was definitely a sachet of instant pudding that went a bit skew with in there , so I used the rest of it to make a chocolate thick shake . And it's so unusual I know that the little arm thingy comes down and whips everything to make a smooth cream , freeze ice cream . So you put the vanilla ice cream in the wee jar and then you add milk and chocolate sauce or something I don't know , and then you just put it in the machine and you push thick shake and I don't know how this happens . It comes out so thin that you can suck it up a straw . What ? How does the blade go from whipping the hardest of ingredients into cream , but then you can sort of just navigate it to being as smooth as a thick shake . But going up a straw , I don't know . It's magic . I love it . I'm here for it . The other thing I have to buy is ice magic , that chocolate stuff that goes really hard on top of ice cream . That's another ingredient I'm buying this week .

Speaker 1 18:24

I think you guys have totally sussed out , but I'm definitely not on a diet right now I've definitely realigned my values and goals to just be there and be really present for me . This injury has definitely realigned the fact that I don't know as far back as like three months ago , have been just working really hard on myself and different things , but not taking care of myself , and that's imperative . So when all this sort of stuff has happened with this medication and everything , honestly I am just eating all the nutritious good food at the minute . The creamy is the exception . I'm sorry , but I wouldn't normally have ice cream and I've probably gone two or three years without ice cream , so this is fine .

Speaker 1 19:16

But also I'm having really great breakfast , lunches and dinners , lots of vitamins and minerals and different things that I haven't been giving my body , and I think I have maybe touched on this before , but because I'm two weeks sober tomorrow , I keep dropping that in , but I'm kind of proud . It's one of those things that when I drink and have like a big night and celebrate whatever the next day , I feel like I can't . It's one of those things that when you go out and you blow yourself out , I don't feel worthy of drinking good coffee or using good skin care . It's almost like you don't put nice things on a shit surface . You wouldn't , I don't know . And so just recently , with all this type of stuff going on , I've definitely felt like I have been giving myself the nutrients I deserve and I'm so proud of everything that I've been eating .

Speaker 1 20:18

I have just been enjoying food again , I think , going and spending a week with my best mate who cooked breakfast three mornings . We had everything from avocado on toast to pancakes to bacon and eggs , and my god , he knows how to scramble an egg too . I was actually kind of impressed . Like I actually said to him , is he like cheese in this ? Because it was so delicious ? There wasn't , but I don't know . It definitely gives you that shock value when you've had an injury and you need to just sort of get yourself back into feeling good and healthy and happy , and in two weeks since being back , I have definitely taken care of myself and I feel so good . So , yeah , I want to see all the recipes . I'm eating everything that's delicious at the moment . I'm so excited . However , I will , as I never give you guys advertisements in my podcast . I would never have a break to do an advert or whatever . That's just not me . That is my solemn swear to you guys .

Speaker 1 21:26

However , moving on to the new stuff that I've had in the last two weeks , it's one of those things when I was in Aussie , I didn't get to do as much shopping as I had planned for and I saved and went without for you guys know , you know , two , two months , maybe two or three months , and so I obviously had a bit of a shopping list and when I came back , I sort of looked at what we could get in New Zealand and I may do with what we could . However , you all know how much effort I put into skincare and I feel like the base layer of skincare is just , you know , night creams , day creams , all that kind of stuff . I have sort of put out there my favorite sort of skincare with the ordinary . That is my brand . I love it , but I have most recently just used the actual website , which is so intense and good . I need it in my life . There is a quiz which I found really interesting and it spits out at the end of it the things , the products that you should use , and the ordinary has so so many different things . It's so cool . So I brought three products that it recommended , and I know that I've told you about my favorite night cream , which is that avocado sort of creamy stuff that is super thick and heavy . I get it from Meka . It's $50 and it just down here . The conditions are quite dry and so I don't know . I love it . I love it heaps . It's just run out , so it's fine .

Skincare Recommendations and Movie Review

Speaker 1 23:03

This came at the best time because I was sort of on the fence about face moisturizers as well for the daytime , and so I brought this really hectic product and I've used it for the past week . It makes me so happy to get out of bed and put on . Honestly , it's just called multi-factor moisturiser Nothing major and natural moisturizing factors and photos something . I can't even pronounce it and it's thick . It just goes on under makeup so flawlessly . I am so happy because it's just brought my whole skincare regime to light and I'm so happy I came across it . They also threw in a free rosehip oil for your face and I was really like I'm not putting oil on my face , it's gonna go really wonky . I have used it maybe two or three nights last week in place of my night cream and I was so impressed it absorbs so fast . I was like whoa , it's not even like oils on your face , so that I also got this really crazy stuff which is Aloe 2% plus N-A-G 2% , which is don't worry about it , it's some weird title and it focuses on textural and irregularities and dry skin , which is exactly me . I've said that a million times . And just those three products between the multi-factor moisturiser , the Aloe and the great rosehip oil . I am so happy and impressed .

Speaker 1 24:47

And even I was in Kmart yesterday just farting around . Actually , I picked up something I love , dupe of things , and there's that l'anage lip mask , which is something you see , I don't know . It's $40 and it's meant to just be this protecting barrier on your lips . But who pays $40 for a lip balm ? I mean , not me . Anyway , I picked that up and I was playing with it and it was in the skincare area and I just sort of you know when something's like packaging catches your eye . So I picked it up and I was holding in my hand . There's a woman to the right of me . You said , oh no , darling , you don't need that , look at your own face . And I was just standing there like what do you mean ? Look at my own face . So I took that as like a compliment because , oh yeah , I probably wouldn't , maybe wouldn't try to put Kmart products on my skin , but this lip mask it was $4 . I'm just putting it on now and it's . I got the watermelon one . It says apply the lip mask before going to sleep , gently wipe up in the morning . It actually has the impression that it's going to be there in the morning , which is wild , because dry conditions mean lip balms leave very fast . So I wore it yesterday and I can't really say I remembered when it was coming off or whatever , but I didn't reapply it . So , yeah , really impressed at that duplicate , that's for sure .

Speaker 1 26:12

However , I am going to put some links at the bottom of the podcast about the ordinary stuff , because they know it's really overwhelming when , obviously , I start rambling off some ingredients and whatever . But I also want you to visit the ordinarycom and just do the wee quiz thingy that spits out what type of skincare would be beneficial to your own routine and just try it . And the thing is , you don't have to buy from the ordinary . They sell these products at farmers and that's probably why I fell in love with this whole thing is because I was getting this at Maya in Australia when I was leaving in November 2019 . So when I was going back . I was so excited to just revisit Maya and have a professional , like you know , reevaluate my skin , so I actually had to go and do the work myself and use the website and tell it what I was struggling with , which was really great .

Speaker 1 27:04

However , farmers is New Zealand's stockist of it and when I was in the Auckland farmers I was so overwhelmed by all the white packaging . I was like , oh my God , I don't know what these ingredients are and there's no one here to help and I just I brought stuff , but I didn't really feel confident in it . There is a really fabulous eye serum that just gives you hydration under your eyes , especially for people that we are like reading glasses or spend time in front of computers , so I rate that one as well . But it's just a little bit of advice . The ordinary is the products where there is really simple ingredients .

Speaker 1 27:41

When I was sitting with Dan in the kitchen , he was telling me about this mask that he has been using and he turned the back of the back sorry , back of the packaging over . Oh my gosh , I would be really lying if I said that there wasn't like 40 ingredients on this and the main ingredient at the top was aqua , which is basically saying that they're filling this product with water . But one of the ingredients was what's that stupid word ? It was an ingredient that I used in keto food to help bind things together , to help sticky things , and I was like , oh my god , you're putting food on your face . But the level of ingredients on that mask was frightening and I said , whoa . I don't know if I'll be using that myself , because anything that's going to have 10 plus ingredients you start getting smaller quantities , so the product doesn't work as well . That's just my take on it , but I feel like it's like that for everything , including multivitamins . If you take them , and you take heaps of different things in them , you might not be getting what you actually need out of it . I don't know .

Speaker 1 28:52

So also , I came across this app called Swipe Wipe . Swipe Wipe it is the tender of your phone . Basically it's not Tinder , but it is like a pinky peach colour . It's available in Google and Apple in the PlayStores and it actually sells itself as an app to make your camera roll pristine . So this is my big like oh my god , I have so much fun with this app . Basically , you get three days for free , so you've got to do this in three days , which is what I did .

Speaker 1 29:27

It was stressful . I have 36,000 photos and videos on my phone 36,000 . And it went all the way back to 2014 . So I had a couple of like you know phone what do they call them ? Phone back backdated . And so what you do is it separates all of your photos into albums and then you go into an album and you swipe left to keep , right to delete , and once you've finished with the album , it texts the album and I'm like , yeah . So I went from 35,000 of videos and photos down to a measly 17,000 . So I cut it in half in three days and it was so quick and easy to use . There's nothing worse than you know , just going through your camera roll and ticking multiple things and then deleting everything , and then maybe you've lost something in the process . But I totally rated it . Swipe wipe . It is like a godsend , and now I have so much more space on my phone . I'm super happy because I was honestly waiting , waiting for something to come up that would help me do this better , and this is it . So that's my recommendation to you guys have a spring clean of your camera roll . Swipe wipe is the phone cleaner . Super impressed 10 out of 10 . Chef's kiss .

Speaker 1 30:56

Last night I watched Love at First Sight on Netflix , cried my eyes out . Oh my gosh , if you guys haven't caught up with the latest number one in New Zealand movie right now , love at First Sight , holy moly . I was not expecting this movie to move me . It was beautiful and let me tell you , I just love these types of things . The girl meets a guy on a plane and I have met like I've met guys on planes . So I'm like whoa , this could totally be a vibe , but no , it's just this beautiful romantic love story . It's a little bit wishy washy and you've got to keep up with a few things here and there , but it's just fun . It's lighthearted , you can switch your brain off . Don't touch your phone . It is only an hour and a half and it's easy to watch . So just get amongst it . But Love at First Sight stole my heart . Oh my God . I'm so here for those types of movies . But yeah , actually I was going to say to you guys sorry , I keep getting this like like glag in my throat . I haven't got any drinks with

Reevaluating Investments and Seeking a Hobby

Speaker 1 32:05

me .

Speaker 1 32:05

At the minute I also am doing a bit of a spring sweep and reevaluating where my Kiwi Saver , which is what you use when you retire to live off in some countries . And I am enjoying like looking around because I found out that obviously , like the big banks , they take a lot of your contributions and there's a lot of fees involved . So I'm actually doing a bit of a deep dive at the moment on investments and Kiwi Saver . It's a bit of a like I don't know , it's not enjoyable at best at times , just because financial stuff scares everyone . I mean there's nothing worse than feeling like you're going to get ripped off . I actually did one for New Zealand . Is it Milford investments or something ? I was so impressed at the graphing that it's sped out because obviously it takes you through the motions of where you should be putting your money . Is it rapid growth ? Is that consistent money ? What do you need the money for ? Kind of thing .

Speaker 1 33:09

Not only did mine say that I would live to be 86 , I was sitting here like huh , why does it think I'd live to 86 , but it basically said that if I wanted to retire at 70 , I would have 16 years to use my Kiwi Saver . And they were like is your Kiwi Saver looking after you in a sense that when you do get to retire , are you going to live happily , or were you going to be on the bones of your ass living off ? Or did they even call that anymore ? I don't even know what they call it . I'm not old enough to know when you retire and you live off the I don't know New Zealand . Anyway , I was very impressed at what they told me .

Speaker 1 33:51

There was one thing I actually went to change . This is how big it was . I went to change from B and Z Bank , which is where my Kiwi Saver is now , to Milford Investments , and then I got nervous because there was a stupid question and I was like , oh my gosh , what if I tick this incorrectly and they take all my money ? So I haven't come back to it , but it's saved , it's all sweeter . I'll do that later .

Speaker 1 34:15

However , I am very much a risk taker . So I sort of opted into a risky kind of a thing and I was kind of impressed and I sent this PDF thing that it sort of gives you a bit of a result in the form of a PDF file . I sent it to mum and I was like what do you think of this ? And she was like oh , that's interesting . So I also went as far as using the old ChatGBT , which cracks me up because ChatGBT is kind of smart , but like smarter than Google , I suppose and I put into it what's a good investment company to go with in New Zealand ? And of course it sort of sped out your ANZ , your AMP , your Fisher funds . But Milford Acid Management was on it and I was like I was already trying to go with them , but it gives you all these like really great sort of spits about you know why you should choose these companies and why New Zealanders are trusting them and everything else .

Speaker 1 35:13

And then I said what's a trusted KBSAver company to go with the New Zealand ? And again the Milford investments were . Milford Acid investments were definitely up there and I thought , oh , I'm making a really great decision here . There is nothing worse than getting older and being like , oh my gosh , I should have invested more then and I haven't ever changed my contribution to my KBSAver since I've been working . So I'm pretty sure it was like 3% or something rubbish .

Speaker 1 35:44

But I know that I could definitely do better and I'm in a position to do better . So that's why this spring I'm definitely reevaluating where my money is and also I'm really interested in compounding interest in different term deposits and really hectic big words . I totally get . I'm not going into it , but this is what I'm doing to you know further , my future , especially for money living to 86 . But I don't know . I just sort of want to put it out there to everyone that's listening . Are you guys doing the same ? Are you looking at where your money is , how you can do this better ? Should I do a pod on investments and KBSAver ? Or you know just what I learned because I have all the time in the world to learn about this type of stuff . There's nothing better to you know , apply an hour a day to checking in and seeing if you can do better at something . So that's where I am with the investments KBSAver .

Speaker 1 36:41

I'm also on the hunt to find a hobby and I'm very excited about this because when I was in Australia , I caught up with a friend who is an absolute animal for Pilates right now and I was thinking , look , I don't really live in this best sort of hustle and bustle area to have a lot of options when it comes to hobbies and stuff , but I want to find something that I like , and I don't know what that is . So I'm in the hunt for a hobby with a group setting . Or I probably could just take up a second job and work in a cellar door selling wine , I don't know . Also , as New Zealand is supporting up the wars , 40 10 to the nights on the weekend , we smashed it out of the park and the first minute and a half the warriors , the New Zealand warriors . I couldn't dive off the couch but I tried . That try was hectic .

Speaker 1 37:40

I'm so pumped and excited for Brisbane on Saturday at the Suncorp Stadium . Oh my gosh , I was looking at flights as the game was progressing and I was like and New Zealand is about to jack this price up because Kiwi's are going to be going to support the boys . I don't know if it's because Sean Johnson was back on the field , but I feel like his presence made the whole of Auckland and Mount Smart Stadium just lift . And it was such a good game . I have goosebumps right now , even reliving it talking about it , but I wanted to sort of say that up the was .

Speaker 1 38:15

I feel like when I was in Brisbane I didn't go to the game because I was poorly and I just wanted to watch the jets and go sit somewhere and you know , just not be , you know , paying attention to a rugby game . They lost , and I was like it's me . So I am continuing my support , and it's kind of one of those things I was watching is it Andrew Johns ? He was a commentator and he was saying oh , you know , he was quite arrogant . I'm not , I'm not really impressed with his behaviour on the commentary to be , I get that , they can do that and be like that , but it wasn't nice . But on the bottom of the TV they were saying that , you know , new Zealand Warriors haven't won a game for 15 years . Like , don't quote me on that , I think it was 15 . That's definitely probably about right , though , because when I was working at Vodafone , vodafone supported the Warriors , and I was just , you know , I don't think any of us actually really supported them because they were losing , I don't know , but I'm so pumped and excited for them that almost in the finals and we are doing everything in New Zealand to up the was , and I think someone the other day was like what is up the was ? Is that like slang for something ? No , no , please get on board with this . Support the New Zealand Warriors . They are going up in Brisbane this weekend .

Speaker 1 39:40

However we are , I suppose I should do my knee catch up now I'm looking around at what I'm talking about . So basically , I have a big appointment on Thursday to get an outcome . I hope the inflammation in my knee has gone down significantly so that I can get that MRI and see how extensive the tear is . The pain has gone from a 20 out of 10 to a six . It's not . It's not . Yeah , I'm not enjoying it . I've had broken sleep for about two weeks . The pain medication only does so much , and then the worst thing is is waking up and being like shit . I've got to top that medication up and your knee is starting to feel pain again . I worked last week . I was unable to get to the doctors . I sort of have PTSD a little bit from how I was spoken to . So I am going on Thursday . I'm putting myself back out there to go and get this sorted , but I'm not . I'm not happy about it . I'm going in with three sort of main topics to discuss about this and if I don't get an outcome , I'm going to burn the place down and Danny's going to choose violence . No , I'm not . That's not a threat , but that's how

Pain Management and Personal Updates

Speaker 1 40:56

I feel .

Speaker 1 40:56

You know , there's nothing worse than being in a multitude of pain and not having any sort of assistance , but also being questioned if I'm going to be like overdosing on opioids is . You know my aunt in Milan ? She messaged and she was like I feel like they sort of jumped the gun a little bit and just assumed that you were using drugs in a terrible way . But in natural fact , I've probably been to doctors four times in maybe two years and I don't ever ask for drugs or medication and I'm such a timid person . Even the first night using tremidol I didn't even take the whole dosage . I was scared . I said this is stupid . I need to be able to trust medication when in fact I've called up and asked for it . I've sent the prescription to the pharmacy after I've , like fought for it , but I haven't had a really lovely chat with my doctor about the side effects or anything about it .

Speaker 1 41:54

And now I'm just sort of assumed that everything's fine and I'll just take it . Well , no , I'm a beginner , I don't do that kind of stuff and I get really nervous and worried . So yeah , it's a bit of a mess and I've done my very best , but it cracked me up . I definitely needed to have a postbox last week , because the amount of advice and people that wanted to send me things , I mean I'm so grateful and overwhelmed and thankful . But it's best that I stick to my doctor's advice on this and even if it is micro dosing , baby shitty eight milligram dosage of codeine that they think are going to work , I still have to take that and hope for the best . So I'm just not one to whinge about , you know , going to the hospital . I don't , you know , put pressure on the health system in any way , but maybe I should , because this has been the most pain I've ever been in and I have had zero assistance from any sort of health care . So that's where we're at . But I just want to just sort of update you guys and say thanks , but I'd know more on Thursday as to my next steps in my recovery , if anything . I'm only focusing on getting myself better for the next 45 days until I get on that cruise ship with my family for the Melbourne Cup cruise . It's the one thing that we've been , you know , aiming for this whole year , financially and being ready and organized . So I'm not about to , you know , put this in jeopardy just because I injured myself on a treadmill . But no , that's , that's exactly it . That's the update .

Speaker 1 43:33

Just looking down my list of things to talk about today , I don't think I have anything else to talk about I probably just want to touch on . I've had a few people that are just like you know . You didn't really talk too much about your time in Australia . Honestly , I've got to slap across the knuckles for going by all my family who I love so much , but also they were mad because I left it so long between visits . This is my pod to tell you guys all my friends and family in Australia . I will look after myself . I promise you I'm going to get myself like back to a really healthy , happy condition .

Speaker 1 44:16

I am the really cool travelling type , cousin , best friend and I will eliminate the time between visits . I understand that when you live in another country , people have lives and I shouldn't expect that family and friends will come visit me here , even though you all are at certain times . However , I get it . I will be that person that comes to you because your family and everything that you're doing you can't just drop at the side of a jet-star sale or whatever . But it was really obvious this past trip that a year is too long to go between seeing people . So , if anything , I've come back and I'm just super relaxed and content . But also I understand that that time between visits is too long and I don't want to do that anymore . So expect more from me popping in and saying g'day . I .

Speaker 1 45:14

Actually , when I was talking to my auntie last night in Italy she was like , are you ever going to come to the Northern Hemisphere ? And I was like no , I don't have any inkling to go into the Northern Hemisphere . I am so happy and content with places like New Zealand , australia , asia and that's it . Hawaii in America , but not really America , just Hawaii . But that's my things that bring me joy and that's definitely seeing my friends and family all around the world in any type of area , just not the Northern Hemisphere , but , hand on heart , I promise from Danny Dot all the way to Australia , I will be back to visit more often . You guys have just left a little impression on me on this last trip , so I will get back more often . Expect lots of hugs and catch ups and everyone keeps getting married and having babies . So I will be that cool travelling cousin friend and just turn up with all the presents and all the duty free and have lots to discuss . I love you all so much and thank you so much for your love and support . It's not gone astray . However , I will wrap this up .

Speaker 1 46:33

I hope this sort of brings some sort of September spring ideas anything from more than just changing your sheets , but also just those review of your storage options . Out with the old and with the new . It doesn't take much . It's just one of those things that when you start to go through a cabinet or a storage container or whatever , why have you even got the storage container in the first place ? Rotate your skin care . Be safe and healthy . Don't keep things past expiry dates . Get your clothing up with the trends , out with all the weird patterns that you thought you're going to come back to , but don't sort of fit right now

Decluttering and Celebrating Sobriety

Speaker 1 47:16

.

Speaker 1 47:16

No , we are better than this . I'm not going to be one of those disposable fashion people I don't care but what I'm saying is get the clutter away . If I could take a photo of my bedroom right now and show you just what I'm talking about , it's pretty disgusting and I'm so embarrassed that I get this way . So that is what I'm doing this next couple of weeks is getting myself back into a pristine condition , out with all the rubbish and I'm very excited . I do love new storage options and that thing on the back of the bathroom door is making me happy when I remember it's there . So , yeah , it's one of those things . But anyway , hey , listen , everyone . Have a drink for Danny . I am sober tomorrow two weeks , exciting but I still want you guys to enjoy yourselves . I don't have a wine of the week , I haven't touched anything , but I also love and respect every single one of you , so keep being you and I will see you next Monday for another episode of the Danny Top Pod . This is pod number 23, . Signing off . Love you all , bye .