That intro kills me. I think I need to change it. Welcome back everyone. It is the Danny Dot Podcast. I am your host, danny, coming to you from the well beautifully warm Cromwell, central Otago region of the South Island of New Zealand, for all those new worldwide people that are joining me. Hey, guess what? I bumped into a very cool person who Kiwis may know and love, but the wonderful Dominic Harvey from the Edge radio station, circa like 20 plus years ago Basically. I'll give you a bit of a rundown on this whole situation. It was very cool.
Speaker 1:I was in Queenstown doing a bit of Melbourne Cup dress shopping with Mum and we were in Dottie of all stores. Oh my gosh, dottie is crazy. It's like one day the clothing is full price, the next day it's 70% off. I can't keep up. Anyway, I was running back and forth to the changing room chucking Susan clothing. Dottie is all having this panic attack because she wants to wear a dress, but she doesn't want to wear a fastenet or a hat, but no hat suit the dresses. Oh my God, it's the whole thing. And as I'm running out of the changing room, dominic walked into Dottie on the phone and I just stood there and I was like oh my God. And this little excited school girl in me just thought, oh my God, I literally had listened to him since intermediate high school days and I just I wanted to drop the outfits on the floor and just chase after him. So, funnily enough, I think he was lost because he turned around and he walked back out again and I was like shit. But I knew in my heart that I was like I'm going to try and find him and have a word, because he's such an inspiration For those of you that don't know, dominic Harvey was on a very cool radio station, the Edge, back, as they say, 20 plus years ago and he was the morning show host.
Speaker 1:And this is back when they did this segment called Two Strangers in a Wedding. I think it was like way before married at first sight, where they hitched up two randoms over the phone. Oh yeah, well it was. That was over radio, they hadn't seen each other and they got them married. But this is back when JJ, mike and Dom was the morning madhouse and I think it kind of, like you know, set the tone for radio in New Zealand. It was fun, it was like harder, but like I mean I've always been a massive supporter of radio.
Speaker 1:I've never been on radio because, quite frankly, I need to be censored. But I don't know. I don't know if you guys know this, but I'm completely off topic because it's 91 ZM. It's another radio station, but when I was 16 years old I won my height in CDs because it was part of the Guinness Book of Records for Christchurch. But I've always been pretty, you know, on the dial and it comes to winning competitions through radio stations and this, that and the other.
Speaker 1:But I'd never come across Dominic Harvey. And so when we left Lottie, we were just walking around and I said to mum, dom Harvey is in Queenstown, he's just randomly walking around. And so we were popping around a few other shops and we were walking up Shot Evers Street and I was like damn it, he wouldn't have come this far, like we weren't looking for him. We were just aware that he was around, I suppose, and I said to mum God, that's annoying, because he would have been so fun to talk to. Oh my gosh, randomly he overtook us on Shot Evers Street, walking up. I mean, that street's on a hell of its own, is it? I feel like it's on an incline and he just walked past and I mean, oh my God, like in a cool, calm and collected kind of a way, and I was like mum, that's Dominic Harvey Like knowing full well that if he didn't hear that he wasn't going to stop and turn around. And he just stopped and it was everything and anything I'd ever imagined, because I feel like the interaction happened in slow motion. It was wild. Not only was he super, like I don't know, his conversations are so put together you know that he's been on radio or he does a podcast because he's very structured but he asked me my name, he asked me mum's name. Then he was like oh, my mum's name. So as well.
Speaker 1:With this really great, like I don't know very casual yarn, I feel like when I come across somewhat famous people and Dominic Harvey is very famous in my eyes as a Kiwi I always never really falter. When it comes to speaking to someone that's famous, it just comes out like verbal diarrhea and it's always just not overly like weirdly excited, but more just cool, calm and collected. So I said to him hey, I just wanted to have a quick word with you and just let you know that you leaving radio, we know, as New Zealand was a very emotional thing. I actually was driving to work in Christchurch that day. I was going to the offices that I worked for and I was crying like it was so emotional and I was like why is this consuming me so much?
Speaker 1:But I said to him I know that when you left, you know there was this gap here that he was just kind of like doing his own thing, getting his affairs in order to have fun. And you know what was the next career steps? And he fell into doing podcasting. And I just randomly said to him it was, you know, one of those things that because he did it, watching how he does podcasting and having my own way about it, I don't know resonated with me. So I said to him, you know, he gave me the confidence to do it myself. And he was like, oh, so you have your own pod.
Speaker 1:And I actually accidentally said I had 26 episodes being, quite frankly, this is my 24th, but I got excited. But I just said to him, you know I had this whole mindset of like, if not now, when, and he sort of lit up. He was just like oh, but it's one of those things where he's super famous in New Zealand eyes and I obviously follow him. His podcasts are super intriguing, like he interviews really great celebrities, he deep dives into topics that Kiwis don't necessarily want to talk about, but how he gets it across is like I mean, I would aspire to be on his level once.
Speaker 1:I, you know, really get into this podcasting thing. But I said to him well, you know, how are you doing post the Sydney marathon? Because he's just run that. And he looked at me and mum was like it's weird how you just sort of like know what the shit about me? And I was like I am very aware of what's going around me because I want to. You know, I do have that opportunity to meet someone. I want to not just be like was she, was she? And he looked at me and he was like, oh, you know, I'm a bit sore, it's been a week. And I just did five Ks around Queensland Gardens and I just stood there and I was like yep, that's Dominic.
Speaker 1:But I sort of further said to him I had my own pod and it was sort of one of these things that we're just getting it off the ground. It's not, you know, wildly popular in New Zealand at the moment. But he took my details with the Denny dot pod and he was like, oh, give you a five star rating. And I just cracked up because I haven't even told you guys that you could rate the pod. It was just so funny. I was like, how do you do that? Like I didn't even know. And so I went into my Spotify and I had a wee look and I was like, oh my God, people have been rating me five stars, like this is so crazy.
Speaker 1:But yeah, it's one of those things where I walked away from it and I just I was so proud of myself for not only having this conversation with him and being super relatable we had this really genuine conversation but to be proud of myself and be like you know what, this year, on its own merits, has been super difficult for so many reasons that there's been more cons and bloody pros and I have kept going with this thing. And it's one of those like I don't know where it's going to go, but I don't care. At the end of the day, I am so proud 24 episodes in a year and it's just growing, this community and there's been such great advice and discussion that it even blows my mind and I can only imagine what he goes through. Because he hit a million listeners like I don't know, six weeks a month ago and I said to him you know, that's super achievable Congratulations. And he was just like, oh, you know, it's a bit of a slog. I'm like, yeah, I know, because you don't have that engagement where you can, just, you know, message someone who listened. You have to wait for the listeners to message you to respond because we can't see who's listening to it. It's just going to be one of those things that you could be silent and I don't care. You could not engage, I don't mind. However, if you do listen and you want to reach out and just you know, give me a bit of feedback or tell me what you do and don't like.
Speaker 1:It was kind of a bit of a sliding doors moment, because as we were leaving, dotty on the hunt for Dom which I wasn't actively searching for him that sounds weird my cousin's husband, who is like the quietest, most beautiful soul, he messaged me and he said, hey, we've started listening to your pod. I just want to say that I listened to your most recent one to do with Australia, but I'm going back to the start and I was like, oh my God. I was basically in tears telling mom. I said this is crazy. Not only has her husband just you know sent this beautiful message. I'm about to embark on a bit of a hunt around Queenstown to find Dominic Harvey, and when I did it was everything and more.
Speaker 1:So just goes to show like, even though you know so many things are so undecided these days, we don't know what we're doing. I just think if you keep putting one foot in front of the other and you just keep on doing what's passionate to you and you feel really, I don't know, like it's something that you have to keep on with, bloody well, do it. Because at the end of the day I could have piked out on this on Pod 5th Day and been like, no, that's not for me, but for me, this podcasting thing 100% is my jam, it's my favourite thing. I get so excited. And even Mum said the other day you've started talking differently, where you're removing the ums and your sentences are very structured, but not just a short one line sentence. You're elaborating more and I know that I'm doing that because I know that people are quite international and they might not understand what I'm talking about. But it was super embarrassing and this is why I'm sort of moving into this.
Speaker 1:I think I might need to rebrand my pod, because explaining to Dom what my name, danny Dot, was and where it came from Mum was like I can't believe. You just mentioned your arse to Dominic Harvey, like why is it called Danny Dot? Oh, you know, because I get drunk and I, like I don't know, refer to my arse as a dot. Yeah, cool, don't say that again. So we are definitely re re-evaluating this.
Speaker 1:I actually had had thought about this at Pod 20, if I should rebrand because I don't feel like Danny Dot is, you know, something to do with me anymore. The name's gone, it's been in gone, but also the pod hasn't got a theme. So I'm finding it really difficult because when someone asks, I'm like oh, I don't even know what to say about it, and even back in the day, when I thought this pod would be about crumb or life, it's been everything but crumb or life, if anything. I haven't really even explored that because, quite frankly, there are other topics to talk about that you guys put in my head and I don't know. Let me know what you think. Should I keep it as Danny Dot or should I rebrand and just like go with something else that's a little bit more able to be explained? I don't know, it's weird. Anyway, this is my low maintenance baddie. Date yourself summer pod. I feel I need to like get this off my chest. It's definitely one of those.
Speaker 1:I love doing pods that have half of it on a topic and half of it on my life, admin, because you still like to hear about my life at the moment. So you know, when we think about maintenance, I just sort of wanted to elaborate on that word and in saying that it's so broad. So I dissected the word maintenance into what's that one, two, three, four, five, six, six different components that we could maintain in our lives, and I dumped it down and made it super simple, because in every sort of like life aspect we can't just look at it as a whole and sometimes it's super easy just to focus on something that you know you could make singular and then you could deep dive on that and get it under control and then you move on to the next one. So, being a low maintenance person, I would probably say that I have been that my whole twenties. There's definitely been people I've come across that are very high maintenance in their life, whether it be their physical appearance, their relationships, their jobs, all those types of things. I probably am at the other end of the spectrum. I do everything well enough for you to believe that it was done with a lot of like, care, attention, money, and it hasn't been so. It's one of those really wild topics where, yeah, I am definitely giving myself away and saying, hey look, I don't actually spend a lot of time on myself, but I'm pretty sure you could probably tell. So if we start with the top one, I feel top of the pyramid would be life in general, your life maintenance and being low maintenance in this life sector. It's basically breaking down the basic things that one needs to do to keep life flowing. So when you think about what are all the components that go into how to make your life flow really chill and no maintenance, it's probably just I mean, is it one of those things that we're supposed to step back in January and get ourselves organized for the 12 months of the year and keep life flowing in that sort of aspect? Or is it something we look at monthly and we just make sure that we're on top of everything, whether it be bills, maintenance for your house, chasing the glass ceiling in your job, all those types of things. So it's so broad, it's ridiculous.
Speaker 1:The next one, which is probably like a really big one for myself, is the physical maintenance. And let me tell you, when I left Queenstown in 2016, I think it was and I moved to Sydney, I did not fathom how much my physical maintenance was not up to par, and not in a disgusting unhygienic kind of way, but just how much people in cities look after themselves and I say this to all my friends that are all spread out around the world in different places that have major city centers get amongst it and gulf yourself in all the weird shit that comes with like physical appearance, like not on a weird over the top kind of way, because I don't want to see you coming back to New Zealand with like weird scary eyebrows or whatever but the stuff that comes with your physical appearance whether it's hygiene, nutrition, physical activity, your sleep or your doctor's checkups these are all things that you can keep on a maintenance level that means that you're on top of it, but it's so low maintenance that it's just naturally beautiful. And when I say that, like I am really big on nutrition. I take all my vitamins and supplements every single day and I probably try most days to have color on my dinner plate. When I say that Naughty really looks like fried beige color, there is sometimes a salad in there. My physical activity I do smash that out in the morning so that it's a low maintenance, I don't have to stress about it during the day. My sleep I always try and make sure I get upwards of eight hours, although daylight savings yesterday ruined me. But sleep is a really big one and we've been over that many a times and how you can assist in that and I am hopeless.
Speaker 1:I will honestly say this is my biggest downfall is the doctor checkups. I will dig my feet into the ground. I'm not doing it. I want to go to the doctor. To me in New Zealand it's a $50 charge down here in Cromwell for something that I just think is a waste of time, because, unless you actually are suffering and you might need a medical certificate or for whatever reason, having a checkup is just something we don't do. However, I mean, have you let the dentist checkups go? Are the dentists more aligned with the doctor that you just don't have these checkups? If you had it and you were on top of it and they saw something that needed to be addressed quite quickly. Good on you. That's being like super low maintenance and making sure that your health is a primary thing. High maintenance people go in and have those four body checkups bloody six monthly, do all the things you know, but that's just not me.
Speaker 1:My next sort of part of the triangle is the work maintenance. Obviously, that is where it comes into being something you discuss with your manager for, like a pay rise or pursuing the glass ceiling and actually you know deep diving and getting to where you want to be through your career, but not being one of those people in the workplace that you can tell is striving to get there but also extremely in your face about it. I mean, I've definitely come across them and I know in my own insurance side of work there has definitely been office politics on who should be that next level of communication if you need help with the problem. And there's all these people that vie for you the manager's role and you just think, oh my gosh, that person never got the manager's job. It would kick me ass because I don't want to work with that person in that sort of space. But pursuing the glass ceiling is something I definitely encourage and I definitely just want everyone to not settle. I probably have.
Speaker 1:I don't really think I've told the pod actually, but in my job at the moment with the company that I'm with, I think I've changed roles five times, maybe even six, and I've definitely come back to a couple of roles twice and that's just not be like. It's definitely not me going about it in a terrible way and being like, oh you know, I deserve this role, I just want to be more. You know, I want to earn more money or anything For me. I get bored quite easily and, quite frankly, this is my seventh year in insurance and I've definitely been around the block with it, so I know what the glass ceiling is for myself and I've actually even told my boss's boss that I'm coming for a job. But no, she's lovely. I just have that forecasted in my brain that that sort of a role is something I would want to do, but not my boss's job, because, no, no, not that.
Speaker 1:But also, you know, staying in your boss's good books is always a big thing when it comes to maintenance. You want to have that rapport and that relationship but on a you know, with me and my boss, no news is good news. If I don't hear from her, I know everything's all sweet. I'm so low maintenance as a consultant, it's ridiculous. However, when I do hear from her, it could be a 40 minute conversation. We could be talking about anything like what are kids are up to. It's not even work related, but staying in your, in your boss's good books for those like shoulder tap moments when you're in your job and you could be considered for other jobs in the glass ceiling and going, you know, upwards through pay rises and everything else. You want to be a low maintenance person in whatever role, and I mean I Settled in the Vodafone job in Queenstown for many, many years.
Speaker 1:I was like I don't care, I don't want to be, till I say I don't want to be a store manager, I just want to settle because at the time we were getting so many perks networking the community for like phones and stuff. It was a challenge. It was a bloody good challenge and we had so much fun doing it. But it wasn't until I got to Sydney and I was doing telecommunications for Optus that I realized I Was in Sydney working in the Lake City Center flagship store, which used to be a bank, which had a safe vault full of phones at any one time which needed like a combination code to bloody well get into the thing. Look at me giving way secrets. But when I got to that role and I was actually the assistant manager for that store I knew that I was like that's where I should be and I didn't have to fight for it. It was just something I was considered for and I thought you know what my character comes with being a low maintenance person who's super friendly people can approach me. There was a couple of times when I was like I don't want to deal with that customer, I'm going out the back door. But that's not the point when you are an assistant manager and you have to be front-facing in retail or I pray for those that are in that role right now.
Speaker 1:When it comes to your home, being low maintenance, I think, seasonally rotating things and making sure that your seasons from like the winter clothes to summer clothes, you know something we keep on top of. Yesterday, me and mum got rid of two black bags full of clothing and this made me so happy because I I obviously Clothing is one of those things that's disposable. Like you know, fashion is disposable. I have hung onto things from my, like, high school years or even Brisbane life where that climate you can't wear here but also it's. It's one of those things where the fashion in Australia to wear that is that's what it is, but in Cromwell you don't wear that. We threw out this bag of tiny, tiny little singlet tops and you know crop tops because, honey, I ain't winning the poo and I can't wear a crop top too. So they went in the recycling rubbish bag thing.
Speaker 1:But also, a Clean home is a happy home and if you start with doing things that make things really easy to keep on top of, you become very low maintenance and keeping I don't know a happy home. And that's just something that me and mum we work together on. She works really hard Monday to Friday I work, but I work from home, so on my breaks and things I can potter around and do different things that help maintain the home. But it gets to the weekend and I always have said once that weekend rolls around, now I'm not getting up to do like any sort of chores or anything that's for relaxing and doing like extracurricular activities that are far more exciting than you know. I don't know, what are you like? I was just thinking about something. I'm blocking the shower plughole. That's not a thing, is it? But yeah, those are the Monday to Friday jobs to help keep a low maintenance, healthy, happy home. I'm sure that if you deep dive on tiktok about, you know, keeping a maintenance Free house you'd see a lot of cleaning hacks or whatever. So I'm not going to go into that because it should come part and part. If you do it right at the start, you you can maintain it.
Speaker 1:Friendship maintenance, however, that's, that's a different sort of Kettle of fish. I feel like the phase of friendship it's engaging and low interactions that also sustain the friendship is Extremely important. I have, I'm very lucky. I've been to multiple schools, I've got friends all around the globe, I've got work mates all around the globe and I'm super fortunate in saying that when I, you know, get around to messaging someone or we reciprocate, we have a bit of a yarn and stuff. Low maintenance friendships mean that you could go, you know, upwards of a week plus without Interacting, but it doesn't mean you forgotten about that person. You're just that low maintenance friend that you know. I will tag people and memes. I will send things that remind me of that person to that person. I don't need to be in your pocket every single day.
Speaker 1:As a high maintenance needy person, it I sort of have felt that in my own space in Cromwell lately I've sort of like filed miserably. But in saying that I think what it is is that I Put my friendships in Cromwell up on this great pedestal that you know. We found each other as friends in the pandemic and we only had each other and it was super special and I stopped everything for my friends in Cromwell. I would even not go to Christchurch to see my work mates or not go to Dunedin to see my work mates from Vodafone days and everything else, but I would spend time on the weekends in Cromwell and be available to hang out with my friends here when in actual fact I was just like clinging on to these friendships that I was so obsessed with. But I have to take a step back and remind myself that you know, I actually felt like I was the needy friend. That's how, that's how chronic it was.
Speaker 1:But in saying this, being a low maintenance friend means you can take a step back and it's not weird. So I mean, it's just one of those things. I know that I have my friends that I can communicate every single day, ten times a day with and that's not weird. It's weird if we go quiet. Honestly, someone would say to someone oh, is she on a flight? Because she hasn't talked to me in like an hour. But I treasure those and I know who those people are. When it comes to being low maintenance in your friendship circles, you know it's quite important, and especially as you get older, to realize that people have other lives, they, they do things and they don't need to be constantly catching up and everything else. So be that person that has those interactions and takes a step back and does their own thing and then comes back for a Regrouping and you'll see yourself like I don't know, pride yourself and in your own sort of life.
Speaker 1:And I am quite excited because I feel like I'm turning a bit of a corner where I Am gonna start having hobbies and I am making plans to leave Cromwell over different periods of time to go and visit people around New Zealand. That I haven't done because you got to remember like I moved to Cromwell in the pandemic. I don't know Cromwell without a pandemic. The whole, like you can't explore and leave, blows my mind. It's quite exciting, but also that's been a bit of a hindrance because I Don't know. It's just how I've functioned. I sent him myself and Cromwell on the weekends and I'm totally available to catch up with people, and then you have this guilt and let down when you don't have those catch ups. You're like shit, I just wasted a day because I didn't see anyone.
Speaker 1:Well, I Am starting to fulfill my life with things that I want to do and if anyone else wants to be a part of that and, you know, do something. The thing is people have like gym friends. I don't even have that because I choose to go to the gym when there's no one in there, oh dear, I have to like start going to like group classes or something. So that's where I'm sort of going with the friendship, low maintenance thing, and I hope everyone can resonate with what that means and how important it is not to be a needy friend. It was me this year. I'm apologizing, I'm sorry, it's not anymore.
Speaker 1:But the next thing is your maintenance relationship. Being in a low maintenance relationship Just kind of means engagement, behaviors that sustain the quality of the relationship. So this is kind of a hard one for me because I Couldn't even tell you when I was last in a relationship if ever, I wouldn't even know what a happy, loving relationship felt like. Danny dogs been let down a bit, but honestly I just think that you don't like. It should be quite organic, and I say that word quite often.
Speaker 1:When you're in a low maintenance, maintenance relationship, all of your things that you do with your partner or each other, singular in the relation or together, is organic. It's not forced. You're not high maintenance. You don't need that person to come home from a night out because you are alone. You don't blow up their phone like 20 million times a day because you board at work or whatever. And trust me, I did a long-distance thing with a guy and I wonder what he did for a job, because my phone was blowing up to the point when it was so toxic that I had to turn do not disturb mode on on my phone and just lock it in this stupid what do you call it like a desk draw thing and just walk away because I was like this is ridiculous. I don't even see this guy physically in person. It's a long-distance thing and all he was doing was sending you know Messages and making me feel terrible. He was such a red flag. It was bloody awful. I should be in therapy because of that guy.
Speaker 1:Um, but I know exactly what a high maintenance relationship looks like and it's something that I will never put myself through. So I Don't know what would you take away from that as to how to be low maintenance and what could you contribute to your life and Making it one of those things where you are not stressing about anything and it's. It's funny I say that actually because Christmas is less than a hundred days away Are you stressing about it now? Should we be best stressing? I don't know. I think we should, but I want you to sort of take a step back and really sort of I don't know Look at things in a different perspective and make sure that you could be that low maintenance person. It's something that you could obviously take away a lot of stress and anxiety because, like, people that are high maintenance are super wound up and there's nothing worse than having someone that just Stresses about the stupidest stuff and worries so much that, oh, it's terrible.
Speaker 1:Um, in saying that on that whole thing, I wanted to let you know December 12 is the most common day for breakups. I don't know why that is, but it's a statistic around the world, so I thought I'd drop that in there. But also, december 21 is the most common day for getting married. Also, I don't know why that is either, which relays me into my date yourself this summer. Oh Look, I don't know. I feel like this needs to be a bit of a bit of a topic because, at the end of the day, december 1 is coming up and that's the start of summer and we're all super excited about it. However, I want everyone that is not in a relationship or has just gotten out of a relationship to consider that you can't love someone else until you love yourself, and that's the old saying. So I definitely agree with it. But also, to date yourself this summer is just the most exciting thing, and take it from someone like me who's dated myself every bloody summer.
Speaker 1:Firstly, in order to be in a healthy relationship, we need to be able to enjoy our own company. If we don't enjoy our own company, how can somebody else? Not being able to comfortably be with ourselves leaves room for codependency. Needing to be with someone at all times in order to avoid being with oneself is not good. If being with yourself isn't comfortable, though, that's something to explore with your peers, a therapist, your family. It's important to know what brings you joy. If you took yourself out for the day, what would you do and what would you plan? So I definitely fell down the rabbit hole here, but the weird thing is it wasn't unnatural for me to make a date for myself, and I think everyone should do this. It's not about dating yourself for those three months and just being super alone. No, no. It's about taking little steps to make yourself feel really good Self love, self care, all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1:I had a workmate at Voter Days Voter Days in Queenstown also. Shout out to you I know you're listening who was a pest. I'm telling you this with great love and care. He literally could not walk up Beach Street in Queenstown. Sorry to the McDonald's no, I say that it's the food court in general, it's not just the McDonald's. Back in the day, when O'Connell's was O'Connell's, he would annoy the crap out of me because when he would take a lunch break he would have to go up to Mackers, get his little meal and come back and eat it in the back of the office and it would stink the shop out. And I was like everyone now that's, you know, buying phones or whatever is thinking about eating a bloody big Mac because of the smell, whereas me I would total on up to the food court and I was completely content with having a meal by myself.
Speaker 1:The thing is, I brought it up with him. I said, hey, why, why are you like this? Why do you have to come back and hide out the back and eat your food and annoy all the people that are out here? And he was like, oh no, that's embarrassing if you sit by yourself. Anyway, I would say probably a month later he actually sat in the food court and he ate his meal, and it wasn't because I embarrassed him or brought it up or anything like that, it was more just because he had never probably had it highlighted to him how important it was just to be by yourself and oneself. And he was quite impressed with himself, he felt good, and so I'm just like, yeah, I'm gonna encourage this, it's fine.
Speaker 1:However, when it comes to this summer, I want you all to like you know, take away that you could be selfish and that's kind of like a crass term. I don't want you to be like rude and obnoxious, but be selfish with your time. Do what you want. Don't commit to plans. Instead, do what feels right on the day. Say no to things instead of yes and sometimes it's yes just to follow the crowd which is so big.
Speaker 1:These days, I feel like, since we've all been through this pandemic, people are quite dependent on what's going on and they feel like they miss out if they don't catch up with the group and everything else like that, and that's not, you know, distinguishable from anything that's going on around me. I know that sometimes when I go to like Australia, if I say I'm gonna catch up, people get the guilt when they can't catch up with me and I'm like, hey, it's fine, I'll be back. I promise you I'm always back. But when I say that I'm coming over and I'm like organizing an event or whatever, anyone in Australia could say no. I would hate for anyone just to say yes and just feel like they have to because that's, I'm there on a small, small time frame or whatever. That's not the case. So anything that happens over summer, don't feel like you need to be obliged to say yes, I'm gonna attend when really no, because I don't feel like it's gonna fill my cup or it's gonna bring due stress with financial issues or whatever. It's one of those things where I don't know saying no just speaks volumes these days. So I just kind of wanted to bring that up. But also, it's only three months, that's all. I'm sort of consistently saying.
Speaker 1:It's self-care, self love and loving what we see in the mirror. And when was the last time you looked in the mirror and you were like I love what I see? It's something we definitely hide from. So I want everyone to take away and say I'm not really single this summer. I'm dating myself, I take myself out to eat, I love me and I'm awesome, which is exactly the path that I'm gonna go down. And I'm so excited because there's nothing better than feeling good about yourself. I do love me, I'm fucking awesome. Do I say it enough? Absolutely not. My friends say it to me more than I say it to myself.
Speaker 1:On that note, however, something more exciting advent calendars. I have been very excited to let you know my favourite website. God, I'm so like just sad. I'm gonna say this because you're gonna steal all my sales. My favourite website is Cosmetic Capital in Australia that ships to New Zealand and they do 70% off makeup. So Cosmetic Capital has just released their advent calendars and I'm seeing them everywhere. So not only does Cosmetic Capital do these great $55 like $200 value bags, but the advent calendars are super cool. There's also a revolutionary beauty which is at farmers and the who was it pretty little thing? And boohoo are also doing events and glasshouse fragrance they do one. There is nothing more fun than having not just chocolate behind these little bloody doors, but makeup and trinkets and things that make you feel good. Actually, sports Girl, sports Girl Australia, just released theirs as well. So I just wanted to give you guys a bit of a heads up and remind you that advent calendars are not just for children. They are definitely for adults and there are websites out there that do them, ranging from alcohol, makeup all the way through the candles and homewares basically just Google advent calendars. However, cosmetic Capital, I can see, is all falling down the rabbit hole with this one because the website is lit. That's just something.
Speaker 1:I was super excited to share my wine of the week. Well, guess what still not drinking tomorrow is three weeks. I'm not counting and mum's like would you stop saying it? However, I did come across something at Pack and Save on Saturday that I got super excited and brought, and it is delicious. You all know that I love Espresso Martini's. Jarrah have released a six pack of these Jarrah Espresso Martini triple shot coffee sachets. They are non-alcoholic. I give them a nine out of ten. Honestly, when I had my first one yesterday morning, I was so shocked. There's like this weird taste that's like it's not alcohol. I would sort of put it down to being like one of those Mozincino cherries, like something is in it. I don't know what it is, but the box is stunning. It makes me just want to drink Espresso Martini's in the sun with all my friends. However, for six bucks at Pack and Save, jarrah, you can't go wrong. Oh my gosh. I don't know if it was because it was triple shot, but I felt like I got shit done yesterday. I was zipping around the house it was so good.
Speaker 1:I made my mum watch Love at First Sight on Friday. Gosh, she pissed me off. We literally sat down with our dinner to watch a movie and she was like, oh, you choose. And I was like, oh my gosh, my dinner is going cold, would you choose? And then I just put it on Love at First Sight because she hadn't seen it I had and at the end of it she actually said, oh my god, I want more. And I was like, yeah, it hits all the feels. It's bloody 10 out of 10. However, what I didn't elaborate on last week was the fact that my favourite podcast influencer, Alex Cooper, who does Call Her Daddy she has it. Her fiance is the actual producer of the Love at First Sight movies. So it's a little bit of like deja vu, because not only do we love Alex Cooper from Call Her Daddy, but her fiance produced this bloody awesome movie, which was exactly what I needed to see when I watched it, and now I've seen it twice and I just just love it. Something so romantic about meeting a guy on a plane.
Speaker 1:My god, up the was. We lost 4212 to the Broncos in Brisbane. There was a couple of Ford passes, and so now the Warriors are out of the league final. However, I feel like the whole of New Zealand was backing. That was really exciting and fun there for like I don't know two weeks, because they couldn't do wrong. They keep winning. It was bloody awesome. So up the was, sean Johnson. It was bloody good season. Go and rest your, rest your little muscles.
Speaker 1:We did have a hectic weather event last week where, like I don't know what happened it must have been Wednesday I parked my car kind of I don't know, was it sunny last Wednesday, I feel like I don't know what was going on here. I drove back from the supermarket and I had all the windows down on my car pulled up where I normally park. And Thursday, friday we had this weather event where Rangers came in all directions and it was like windy, it was hectic. Anyway, on Saturday no, friday afternoon I went out to my car to go somewhere and I realized my window had been down through the whole thing. There's this little like inlet thing where the water sat between the seat and the door and it was like a flood, like I just opened the door and all this water fell out and I was like oh fuck. So I drove to the supermarket and I was like super embarrassed. I let myself get to the situation and then I just came back and put a beach towel up.
Speaker 1:Mum comes down the driveway because after work I had a CT scan on my brain because I've had headaches for like three months now and they're going to check in and see everything's all right. So she drove me to Dunston Hospital and she was like, why is there a beach towel on the back seat? And I said, don't ask, we're not talking about it. I had literally two days of water just come flying in my back rear windscreen window and now it's Monday and I still haven't got a drive. So, go figure, we had daylight savings yesterday.
Speaker 1:That was kind of fun, but not. It was fine because I went to bed at midnight. But if you're not familiar with it, new Zealand puts their clocks forward an hour in September and back in April. So we lost an hour and now we're three hours apart from Brisbane, which annoys me because I feel like it's like, too, it's too much time between, like, people going to sleep and waking up. I mean, it's just annoying. So I don't know what happened. I went to bed at like I don't know, I ended the warriors game finished, but it was like midnight, and then I woke up and it was 10 to 12 midday. Mum's like, uh, technically it's 11. So you could probably say you slept till 11 and I'm like, oh Susan, how did I let that happen? Um, so yeah, it rooted me, and then last night I didn't fall asleep till 3am this morning and I was just like this is shit, so I don't know what's going on.
Speaker 1:The knee update is pretty vague, to say the least. I had a doctor's appointment last Tuesday. I felt like when I was going into the GP clinic that there might be like notes on my file that I was, you know, going to demand extra medication. So I took my tremidol and my codeine and I was going to show the doctor that I haven't consumed at all. I'm not addicted, blah, blah, blah. I was only going for like stronger pain relief, and so I actually had a 10 out of 10 consult, which is perfect, because you know it's taken so long to find a decent doctor that actually like didn't focus on the keyboard while I was telling my symptoms or whatever, but actually faced me and was really like engaged. So I was super impressed.
Speaker 1:The receptionist was there. We won't go into it, but she knows. So basically, I have to wait two more weeks to have a MRI on my left knee and then we'll find out the extent of the tear. Like I just can't deal with the fact that it's taken six weeks from when I first tell the doctor that I've done this to getting an actual scan to see the extent of this. It seems really unethical because not only am I sitting here on stupid pain relief but it's driving me around the bend. But it should be something that they know and they can refer sort of straight up the bat, as opposed to me waiting and wasting time. So it won't be until mid October that we actually know any sort of you know outcome, to be quite fair, so I did have the CT scan on my headaches and I hope to get my results back this week.
Speaker 1:It's something we kind of can be a little bit worried about, because I have blood clots that run in my family and my mum's mum passed away of a brain aneurysm. I'm a little bit nervous but at the end of the day, like I have been on at the whole doctor checkup thing, so this isn't I didn't drop the ball here. I have been telling them that I'm having headaches and I've been on antibiotics for sinus infection, that they thought it was, but it's not. I mean, it's terrible. I can feel it right now. Curse the bloody flight up to Auckland, because that's when it started and that's why I thought maybe it's a cabin pressure thing. So all I want to know is that I don't have a brain tumour and I can have a glass of wine when I choose to. It's fine. I'm sure I'll sort of loop back tears on that anyway, but I have a.
Speaker 1:The worst thing about a podcast is the dashboard. You have to go into different platforms like Google, apple and Spotify to see interactions that happen with you guys. I just wanted to let loop back on the fact that, my God, I was slammed for mentioning my lack of treating myself after a bender like a drinking bender, the way that I see it and I just sort of wanted to vouch for some clarification on this. Kim Cartrashian, yes, I used to watch the Cartrashians way back in the day. They'd comment, or a quote, that you never put a bumper sticker on a Bentley. I'm not saying that I'm a Bentley, I'm more like a Fiat 500, one of them catfishing cars in the car park. But also, oh my God, that cracks me up.
Speaker 1:I just feel like sometimes when you go on a bender, it's not planned or anything and you have a really big night out. I don't feel like you should put expensive face cream or coffee pods that are expensive on someone that's recovering after being on a bender. I've always been like it as well. I will literally not spend money on a hangover. I've never done it. I was kind of slammed for not treating myself. I don't think it's the case of treating yourself, because if you go out on a bender that's not a treat. But also, you know, I'm 36. I've been on a few benders in my time and I would say that the benders in my 20s far outweighs my 30s. And there has been some pretty kick nights in Cromwell.
Speaker 1:But no, no, the stuff that happened in my 20s was chaotic at best and it's just something I believe in. I don't know, I will have an instant coffee the day after a hangover, real milky, sugary instant coffee. And I've got like oil of au lait kind of face cream, not the ordinary, it's like naughty daddy, you shouldn't have gone out. No, that's terrible. I don't mean it like that, but I do. So, yeah, just looping back onto that comment. Yes, sorry, I am who I am, for goodness sakes.
Speaker 1:No, I did get some other questions on Spotify, just basically asking what's been the worst part of this injury. Honestly, the worst part was going to Australia not knowing what I'd done, basically, and I would never want to put that on anyone else ever in my life, because when you spend time away from family and friends and then you turn up looking like a bag of shit with an injury, it was just not a vibe. And don't get me wrong, these people have seen me my absolute worst. But it's not fair on anyone if you turn up and you've just you know injured yourself. I think when I was at the chemist and my dress snapped and my like boob was going to fall out when I was using the crutches for the first time, just crying in this aisle with this fucking pole through the center of it, I couldn't get around it. I was like this is shit, like I second guessed my own self care and that has been the shitest part is that I probably should have been more proactive and getting myself sorted. However, it is what it is and I wanted to be there for my family and the wedding which was just so important to me, but it came at a sacrifice of my own well being. Other than that, just getting on top of the pain relief has been the shit part. But in saying that, I've spoken to quite a few people about this injury and everyone seems to have their own story about knee tears and it's been really interesting and a lot of people have had lots to say about medication and bits and pieces.
Speaker 1:So I don't know, it's one of those like areas that I don't have a lot of knowledge in, but I'm finding out a lot and it's making me super hyper aware. What's really funny is actually on the Monday that I did this, I actually had a doctor's appointment because I was potentially going to get antidepressants, because I was going through this real lull and I just felt like the world was swallowing me up and I had to get myself sorted and I was just like I don't really want to have this conversation with a doctor. I just don't feel like like am I second guessing the fact that I don't need antidepressants? Like I'm such a happy, go lucky person that is just consumed by some negative energy. But I need to push past this and I don't want to self mediate with antidepressants. So I actually like did this injury in the morning and then I canned the appointment because I was like oh nah, I don't think I need this kind of stuff in my life, like I'm better than this, and it's one of those things where I thought about it for such a long time that I talked myself out of it. And then, in saying that, I thought, oh shit, at the time I probably should have taken that appointment and curved it from getting anti-depressants, from being super sad and down about life, to actually getting my knee dealt with. But I cancelled it and then the appointment passed and then I was like shit, my knee hurts, whoopsie, I don't know. You guys know exactly that, like, everything happens for a reason, so it's just one of those curveballs in life, I suppose. But I am getting better, we are doing well, and let's see what happens. If I could make it to a month sober, that is something that, like, I haven't done since 2019, when I was diagnosed with a blood clot that I had to do six weeks and I don't even think I made it to six weeks.
Speaker 1:I remember taking my mum to El Camino and telling the waitress who actually brought a margarita over, that I couldn't have it because I was on blood thinners and it was early days and we didn't know what you know situation I was in and she gave the margarita to my mum and she brought over this mocktail and she was like shit, I can't even deal that. We can't serve you alcohol. And I was like I know, but I probably went to El Camino in Brisbane like four or five times throughout that injury and had to sit there and be miserable. So this is like a different time where it's not about being sad about it, it's about my well-being and getting on top of my pain relief. But also I went to the liquor store last week because I've seen on social media there's a few different things coming out and I was so excited and I popped in and the girl behind the counter a kid you know she says hey, I was seeing you in like three weeks You've been not be going to super liquor. And I cracked up and I was like no, I have an injury and I can't drink right now. And she's like what are you doing in here? And I said I got excited because I saw something on social media and I want to see if you have it. So, even though I choosing not to drink right now, I'm still stockpiling for Dan's trip because obviously, like, I want to just have the best time when he's here, but also I don't know, you can't keep me away.
Speaker 1:And there has been a couple of times where I've thought about it. Like yesterday we did a bit of gardening outside and I was like, oh, I probably could deal with a gin spritzer about now. And then I was like, oh, I'm all good. So it is what it is. It's crazy. I'm feeling really good and I feel healthy and happy, and I just wanted to share this low maintenance podcast, give you guys a couple of ideas as to how you could, you know, do things to be that low maintenance person. Start now so that in the future it becomes really easy Not saying it's not easy now obviously people have their own things in place but also for those that are newly single or also wanting a bit of guidance or, you know, happy affirmations.
Speaker 1:As such, to date yourself this summer, it's a huge thing. It's not if you break it down, you take it day by day, but also what you take away from it from your own self worth. I date myself all the time and, quite frankly, I definitely know, if I was going to have a date for myself, what it would be. I don't know, did I go into that? I thought about it Basically. For me I would have a brunch somewhere, you know, some cheeky brunch with a. What do you call those things. Mamosa is that bubbles in orange juice, and then I would take myself to a massage or a float in that room with the water, and then I would take myself to the movies, and then I'd have a really great dinner somewhere, and then I'd take myself home and have probably I don't know, I don't know some great dessert, but yeah, just something really super easy like that. If I was the date for one day and you know what I probably will You'll probably hear about it. It's not out of my scope of doing things, that's for sure. Anyway, guys, I will wrap this up here.
Speaker 1:It has been a dream to speak to you all today as, say, I was so happy to have that small interaction with Dominic Harvey. You are a absolute legend. Keep doing what you're doing, because it's inspiring people like myself to continue on with our life goals. Get into those advent calendars as a cosmetic capital. I will put the website up at the end, don't forget. You can rate the podcast on Spotify. That was something I learned. That was crazy. Get into that. Jera Espresso, martini triple shot coffee sachets they are fucking mint. Watch their love at first sight. I can guarantee you it will bring you all the feels, and I will see you back here in a week's time. Have a drink for Danny Dot, love ya. Bye.