Episode 13 ❄️ Triumphing Over Winter Setbacks, Budgeting, and Fitness Faux Pas

As I say , it has been a massive like curveball of a week and I just I haven't even had time to like .

I know I knew that I wanted to get this podcast out earlier in the week , but , my gosh , i've been snowed under with multiple different things and it's also like I like to record these in the morning and for some reason , because it's been so disastrously cold lately , i've been waking up with a sort of a raspy , sort of husky voice , husky , and I just I

just sound so terrible that I've been waiting until like midday afternoon to start recording and , yeah , some days it just hasn't even come right . So We are in an inversion cloud down here in St Trilotargo . I think it's day 11 . I saw it on the news a couple of days ago and it was like day nine . It's annoying .

I am like plotting in my mind how to set up like massive fans to blow this stupid cloud away , because not only are we freezing underneath the cloud , but the weirdest thing is is that if you go , maybe like two or three kilometres down the street from my house and you turn this like corner , there's sunlight And so , yeah , look , i understand completely if

people are feeling a little bit down and they're lacking vitamin D , and it's definitely a mood deterrent , that's for sure . There's something so weird about like not seeing the sun but also not having clear skies . So , yeah , we're at day 11 of this stupid cloud and seemingly it's meant to last for like a fortnight or a month in some cases .

Like it's pretty knowing , but I don't remember it last year or maybe I wasn't paying attention . But I definitely enjoy sort of the later afternoons when the fire is cranked in the living room .

But unfortunately , because I work from my bedroom , i work from home , i try not to go into the living room because once you realise just how cold it is and it's so warm in the lounge , you don't want to go back to your desk .

And it's kind of annoying because sometimes my mum comes home for lunch and she starts a fire and all of a sudden I'm just like damn it , now I know how warm potentially I could be , but I can't work from the lounge room . Well , yeah , look , there was times where I did , but it sets a bad example .

Like all of a sudden , you're slouched , you're sitting on the couch , you're not paying attention to your work , you try not to turn the TV on . The TV comes on . Oh no , it's just . I like to sort of subject myself to my bedroom , the coldness of the house , but yeah , my hands are freezing and my nose is drippy . But it could be worse .

I definitely have really like close dear friends of mine that are tradies and I just think , holy shit , but I don't know what's worse the fact that they could work outside and potentially be moving around and , you know , have all the clothing on that supports this kind of weather , or me , and currently I've like got my Batman onesie on two pairs of socks these

terrible slippers that everyone hates but I can't get rid of and my hoodie on top of my onesie , so I'm completely covered , and sometimes I even answer the phone and put my hood up like I just I don't want to talk to anyone .

So , yeah , it's a vibe , but I'm not sure what's worse working outside in these conditions or working inside and not being properly dressed or moving around as such so that you don't have cold hands and a drippy nose . But maybe you have that when you work outside , i don't know . I catch up with my girlfriends and find out how they're going .

What a week can I just say like I know this is like a super sensitive subject .

As to what happened this week with the Titanic submarine thing , i'm not really going to go into it , but it was really quite funny because on Monday I actually had a day off , completely off work , because our power was being cut from 9 in the morning till 3 in the afternoon due to potentially a cul-de-sac power upgrade .

I don't even know , i'm not the utility bill holder for that whole situation . Mum just said you might want to take a day off because they're going to cut the power . You work from home . You don't have a head office . What are you going to do ? So I thought about it . I was like , oh , maybe I'll go and see my brother and like work for him ready , raw .

No , no , as I was like , waking up , my bestie was leaving the gym in Australia and I was like , is this weird ? but there's a submarine that's gone missing and I don't know . I'm one of those people . It's not the situation like I get it . The submarine , the whole thing is just stupid . So I'm just wiping my nose . I've got drippy nose .

It was more like there was just so many things wrong with this whole concept . It was infuriating and it's a terrible outcome . As of like Friday morning , we've all found out that potentially like two hours and this imploded and everyone passed away , but I don't know , it just protruded the stress for the whole week .

I found myself waking up Throughout the night checking to see if they found the submarine . There was people that had been on potentially like similar sort of circumstances and that survived like that , found them , like I don't know . It goes to show that with wealth comes not the smartest brainpower .

I for one would not have said yes to this , and the fact that they were bolted into this test tube with 17 bolts Like it makes my skin curl . It's not normal . Everything I feel like you do has a way out , and Even my massive fear of flying .

I can still get out of the plane if I wanted to , and even if something happened on the plane , i'm sure I'd , you know , put my head between my knees and just for the best . But this was like Okay , it's gone missing . It's like not got any sort of transponder receiver and you're stuck in it with 17 bolts .

I shouldn't laugh , i apologize for that , but I was not impressed at the whole thing . So I was tracking the Marine boats that were in the area . I'm sort of weird like that , or I love that sort of , you know , the military getting involved and all those kinds of things .

But also when I visited Honolulu and went to Pilharba , there is an opportunity to go on board a submarine and I'm six foot three , so I I actually didn't really make it into the submarine . I got so claustrophobic and I freaked out . It's quite a small , tight , cramped environment , but I absolutely could not imagine anything worse than this type of submarine .

It's . I don't even know how it managed to fit the people that were in the blimmin thing . But lo and behold , you know it's a week later . I'm really hoping for a good night sleep tonight , because I was going to bed earlier , like eight or nine o'clock , but I was having this stupid intermittent sleep wondering if they'd been saved , and it was on my mind .

So , yeah , that's like annoying news to come out of this week , that's for sure . So , oh Man , did I get roasted about my budget ? I Get it . I freaking get it . I'm such a like hopeless person when it comes to money . The thing is , i've never had to second-guess myself and wonder Oh , should I buy something ?

Is there gonna be a You know some sort of repercussion for me buying something ? This was just a case of putting those monies for those you know Things coming up into different accounts and not taking that money back out again , having a big weekend and then having to live off nothing , like my mom said .

I told her and she was like Danny , you're only human , so don't even worry about it . You're stressing out about something you've got . You had control over . But this was only the first fortnight to test the theory and I failed at it . So I Have had a rejig and now I have actually booked , as of yesterday to return flights for two trips .

So I think I'm kind of ahead of myself . And now I'm only saving up for the cruise Which , for some reason , p&o is super good about paying in 25% Instalments , so you get like a whole figure . For me It was , i think was 1800 $1,800 for seven nights from Brisbane to Melbourne , return and all inclusive at Melbourne Cup . So we paid a 250 deposit .

Me and mum both paid at each , so that was $500 and now we have $537 to pay for June , 537 for July , 537 for August . It has to be paid by August 20 . So I'm on track with paying all the crews and stuff off . So that's the only real thing . And spending money for a couple of trips .

And , yeah , i think once I start traveling and , mind you , it's 30 days tomorrow until I travel to Auckland with my friend For a concert once you start knocking off the trips and look , the whole excitement is actually going on the trip .

It's not saving for the trip , but I feel like once these things start happening , then I'll have more money to play with and get back to my normal day-to-day Being a menace and spending like clown , but that's okay .

At the moment , the only thing that's happening in the next 30 days is that I'm super uncertain and undecided about what to wear to a concert and all of last year , every fortnight I was doing these like purchases for Sheen and The iconic and look , i'll be honest with you My gosh , why do people make me aware of these things ?

you guys know that I'm very triggered with spending money , so just don't tell me when there's a sale on . But I came across the mother of all sales last week .

This week It was this week , i think it was Basically the iconic had 70% off and then if you put and I don't know how this works You put 10 items in your basket , you go to the checker and they further deduct another 50% off . I don't know what the maths is behind this .

I didn't look into it , but my basket was $1200 and it came down to a hundred and thirty five dollars for 10 items . And I was sitting there I said to mum you know , i could potentially rejig my wardrobe with staples for $1200 worth , for a hundred and thirty and She was like just do it . And then I shared it with a couple of friends .

I was like this is the sale . I . I know that myself . It works , do what you want . Unfortunately , there was over 9000 products on the iconic , which is a website I think it's mostly in Australia To choose from , and if you could choose 10 , it became quite difficult .

So For some reason there was like board games in my basket , like who knows , who knows why the iconic does board games , but I didn't put it on social media , because I was like , oh , everyone knows that I'm such a hopeless person when it comes to money and budgeting and oh , it was just terrible .

But , um , yes , i do have a lot of clothes and I'm trying to find something like super appropriate for this Lizzo concert , which I'm super excited about , but right now , like , i'm just itching , like like really itching , to buy some stupid sequined onesie jumpsuit , something that Lizzo would , like , you know , wear herself . She's crazy .

She's all about empowerment And I just don't feel like my wardrobe cuts that I don't know . So , yeah , between my budget and 30 days to Auckland with my bestie , yeah , i'm stuck . So anyone has any ideas on what I could wear or anyone knows ? You know , we don't even have secondhand places down here like they do in America , and I don't know .

I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place

. Maybe I should start selling some stuff off and actually like , maybe buy things with the stuff that I'm selling off . I don't think New Zealand's very big on that either . It was pretty big in Australia when I was leaving in 2019 . I actually started Putting all my clothes on eBay .

People were so stupid I'd buy , like sunglasses from a servo , like a pet petrol station for $10 and And people were paying outputs of $40 , $50 for some sunglasses from a petrol station , like What . So , yeah , i don't think Kiwi's are that Slow about that kind of stuff .

I think Kiwi's definitely look into brands and you know , if something is Obviously from a petrol station , they're not gonna pay upwards of $20 for something . But it's worth a try . I just don't know if I've got the time to do it between organizing my podcast and Just life in general .

You know , moving on from the budget stuff , this cocoon mode , i Actually came across something the other day that said that tourists which is my star sign , the bull I am a May 19 baby Should not hibernate . And I laughed , i said what , what ?

I can't remember like the whole blurb about it , but it just basically said that our personality doesn't do very well when it has to stop and go slow or You know , just recluse a little bit . And , sure enough , i have been struggling with it and I've been super busy .

I haven't really even had time to think about it , but subconsciously I've been doing things that have been making me feel better about myself . And Look , five days left of Pilates for the 28 day challenge Huge results . I'm super happy with it .

I caught up with my bestie on the weekend and she said that her jeans are fitting better And I'm just like , okay , i'm gonna keep it up . I don't .

I don't know about anyone else that's doing it with us or if they attempted yoga or Pilates this month , but I don't know huge health benefits and the thing is On the weekend just gone I was gonna come up to it shortly , but I actually got the opportunity to work at the pub and I know last podcast mum was like Don't go back there , there's a guy touching

himself in the pokey room . But I Actually put on an outfit that was very out of left field for me . I don't normally wear pantyhose , kind of stockings , because I'm super tall and I feel like I don't Get into them very well , like I've got super long legs .

But I did come across a pair of pantyhose that said they were extra tall when I was like these aren't gonna fit And so I put them on and , sure enough , i came up to under my boobs . I was so wrapped .

I put on this little like a leather mini skirt and a little like sheer black Mesh top with a little singlet underneath and I came out to the living room and I said to mum Does this look how we to you ? And she was like no , but oh my god , i think it's because I wear such baggy clothes around the house like I truly I do track pants , ordies , onesies .

You don't see me in anything that's form fitting . But mum was like holy shit , what have you been doing ? You actually look really amazing and I thought , wow , if my mum can see that after like three and a half weeks I wonder what everyone else would say .

So I got picked up by the courtesy coach driver , who Is my neighbor , and I came running out to the car and I was like do I look holy to you ? He was like no , but I've never seen you wear anything like this before . I said I know I'm really like super Nervous about this , but working behind the bar to be fine , right here out walked into the pub .

I tell you I felt like the woman wearing the scarlet letter , because It was like I was in slow motion walking from the entrance to the behind the bar . Everyone was just looking at me like I Don't know , like people don't wear that . I don't know . And I just said to the owner . Should I go home and change ? like ?

I'm really not used to this type of thing , as she was like no , but wow . So my confidence was already through the roof . I posted it on my snapchat . I was , you know , and endated with Super kind messages from everyone I love and care about , and I just stood there and I was like , hey , we're doing it , we're doing it , the leather skirt is doing it .

And It was the most magical night , i tell you . There were people that were coming up to the bar . One guy , he walked along the bar and then he looked back at me and did double take and he was like holy shit , i thought that was you . And I said , yeah , it's because I'm not wearing a hoodie and jeans , isn't it ?

and he says , yeah , but you look good . I was like , oh my god , i wanted to cry . I was so happy that , like , not only did I feel good , i look good , and I was getting like so much happy , good , confidence , attention , and I Just couldn't get over it .

There was so much Love , it was so nice and my friends all turned up and I don't know if they knew that I was working there , but they , they were there to party and everything else and it was so cool just to See everyone and bounce around the room .

And , of course , working behind the bar is super hard when you know other people on the other side of the bar because you obviously want to give them like heaps more alcohol than they're allowed . But I did my best .

The thing is is that it's some 18 year olds and I just think When you're , you know Dabbling in alcohol and you're trying to find your drink and everything else , if it's a nightclub environment , you're not . You don't go to the bar and say you want , you know , tequila sunrise or a vodka lemonade with a splash of raspberry .

You have a red smirnoff and you get on with it . So I actually said this to a check . I said no , you're not having a friggin tequila sunrise . Hey , i don't have the time , with the patience , to make this and be having a red smirnoff like everyone else .

You're like 10 , come on , but no , it's one of those things I look back now because I'm 36 and I think of myself in my young 20s . I Had the most wildest bartender friends From bars that are no longer even with us in Queen's Town . You've got your code bar , your boiler room .

You know the old world bar Oh my gosh , i'm having flashbacks Monty's , which is now the new world bar , mini bar , bar bar oh , bar Muda all of them that used to do cocktails off Skybar , skybar , which is now bungalow Skybar , was like my Downward spiral . I was a pest .

And now I think back and I have so many memories of the bartenders there , but I feel like What a dick . I would go in there and I just say to them I don't even care , just make me something and just charge it to me at the end of the night And at the end of the day .

I know that these places were cocktail lounges , but it's one of those things that if you make multiple over the space of like eight hours , it gets exhausting . Mate , i was getting the shits at making vodka , red balls , and that was only two ingredients .

But the fact that you know I used to like Moscow mules , a Long Island ice teas , just everything , and I just thought , oh my gosh , why was I like that ? and I just a cringe , i absolutely cringe . And they apologize to my beautiful bartender friends . Why didn't you tell me I couldn't have it ?

I Have this bartender that I used to walk into the venue and just be like . You know , raspberry's , my Flavor of the night , made me heaps of drinks with raspberry in it . I had a friend once that he made a drink for her and she said that was disgusting and passed it back . I don't care . Alcohols alcohol . Just drink it and get on with it .

It's not supposed to taste like pleasant . It's probably full of alcohol . Um , i remember this one time he made a lychee martini and the guy had actually never had alcohol before the the guy that I was with , and And his face when you screwed it up . And I says what was it ? What was about it ?

And he says oh , i was , i don't know , there's something in this . And I said , is it like she ? and he says yes , so that just goes to show that he used to hide the alcohol under like fruits and juices and everything else . But you know he couldn't cope with the taste of lychee , which I thought was quite refreshing , but anyway .

So yeah , i had my night behind the bar and of course it gets to like 2 am And you start thinking , oh my gosh , when are they gonna close ? I need to sit down . I got sore legs . I had like bottle caps jammed under my boots in the , in the grip of my boots . Oh , he was like Somewhere along the line . I ended up with Tequila splashed all over me .

I tried to do a shot and I Don't know what happened there , but I ended up wearing that as well . I had Tequila all through my mesh top and I actually got into bed at 4 am And my legs were cold . I was regretting my decision to wear pantyhose , but I looked hot , so it was fine .

And lo and behold , at 3 38 , we had a 4.5 earthquake and it rattled the house and I was lying there . I'm thinking , oh well , this is shit , everyone's asleep . Did anyone feel that ? So no , i had so much fun . But again , we'll wait six months to do it again because that was exhausting and I don't know how people in hospitality do it .

Massive kudos to you guys . That's . It's definite skill and a skill I don't have . So , and saying that I do , you know , put it back to my healthy eating and my Pilates and my stints at the gym that I've upped . I've been doing everything really consecutively for about six weeks now and I'm super impressed with the results .

This week alone , i actually started a new program with a Guy who does evidence-based training . His name's Adam Sullivan . I came across him on tiktok . I've been watching him for about a fortnight and I logged in and , you know , set up a bit of a It's like a dashboard , kind of like you .

You send them your email and they start , you know , dealing with your macros , for You know how many carbs , how much protein , how much fat , it's all those kinds of things that you should be consuming . But He , i don't know .

There's just something about a real honest personal trainer like they don't give it to you with the fluffy stuff and the way that he talks is just It's totally me . I'm obsessed with the way that he communicates . So I've been doing that with him for the past week and it's literally three meals a day a dessert and a snack .

And Yeah , i'm happy , danny's a happy girl and my newest thing for some reason right now is Like putting cooked rice , cooked cold rice on a waffle maker with a little bit of like . You know , you just spray , spray the waffle maker with oil You don't pour it in And making a crispy rice kind of cake thing and then piling things onto it .

So my favorite thing at the moment is like tuna or salmon with teriyaki sauce and like cupy mayo , just like weird things . But he's so about stacking food and I just love that . I will stack anything on a piece of toast . I've been known to have loaded toasts , but right now I brought an avocado for $5.50 .

It's not right and it's giving me massive anxiety , because I've got the perfect bread to put the avocado on and the avocado is not ripening . So The house is warm . I promise you there is no reason for it to be sitting near raw . But every morning I test it and I'm like , oh , not today .

So when we have the avocado will be having crispy rice with like salmon and avocado and cupy mayo and What's that stuff Sriracha on a rice cake and I'm super excited about that , but that meal is gonna , you know , come in the future , i think . And also Holly Brooks , who is a very , just a real chill chick . She's in the UK .

She launched a program that is based on like how to get to running marathons , and I hate running . I don't hate it , i just I'm not good at it , but I want to be someone that runs for long periods of time . So I brought her marathon guide and I've just been reading over . I haven't done anything about it as yet , but it seems pretty easy .

It's just got really cool ways of like incorporating runs into your gym routine and I'm not doing like heaps of things at once , but I like to keep busy in the physical sense , and so I think that because for the last like 16 months I I Really didn't have much of a physical lifestyle .

I was that previously , like I've discussed , in 2020 , 2021 , but then 2021 , 2022 , no , so It's really nice reintroducing things and just being really slow about it , because , essentially , your body is your house , so It's not gonna be like Rome wasn't built in a day . You're gonna have to take things slow . I'm not doing like 20 things at once .

I promise you I've got this really great structure . I'm not bored of anything . I've got food from EBT , evidence-based training , running with Holly Brooks , couple of days of Pilates Well , no , every day's Pilates , but it's only like five , ten , fifteen minutes And some healthy eating along the way . Like it works wonders . I can't stress this enough .

If anyone wants any sort of Help with getting your head around how to do any of this kind of stuff or what to get into , come and have a yarn . Like honestly , i'm so keen to talk about it and I love chatting about fitness and health and stuff like that , like a I've done it all .

I'm kind of one of those people but I Don't think I find like one thing that I really enjoy and stick to it because I will get bored . So this , this works for me at the moment and I'm so happy I've gotten into it .

And saying that my mom I know I told you guys that I have brought a bed Well , a mattress and that it plunged me into $800 worth of debt . I had the mattress on hold at the Bedplace just because I said to mom you know I want it . I don't have the money right now . I was looking at ways to pay it , like , is it pay or lay by or something .

I was like I could chip away at it , it'll be fine . I wasn't like a hundred percent . I was pretty hung over the day that we went to test the mattresses and I was like is this mattress actually like good , i don't remember .

So Mum does things really subconsciously Like throughout last week she actually dropped a couple of hints and she asked for the picture that I took of the mattress from the bed store and everything else And she's like have you looked at any other places , like is it cheaper or elsewhere , kind of thing , and I was like no , no , i haven't had time , like I know ,

because I'm just putting it off , it's the inevitable . I'm gonna get a mattress , but I don't know how to get it . And anyway , saturday morning rolls around and I rang Mum it was like 10 30 in the morning And I thought where are you ? And where ?

she was sounded like deadly silent , like I was convinced she was in the house somewhere And she's like oh , i'm just in Cromwell , just at the Seaf Market , i'll be home soon . I was like righto , call her , see you soon . Like two hours , three hours pass and I'm standing there and I'm like Mum , we're meant to go to the rugby at 2 30 . Where are you ?

And she didn't answer the phone . I left a message And then all of a sudden the truck , my higher crane truck that I have a joint business with my brother , comes up the driveway And I just stood there and I looked at her and I was like why is this here ?

And she's like because I wanted to ring your birthday present home and she brought the mattress for me home on my brother's truck And I stood there and I was like Susan , she's like , honestly , you're the hardest person to buy for Danny . So I had to think outside the box . And this is the box , here's your mattress .

And I just was so wrapped because not only that night was I working at the nightclub , but I knew that I'd be coming home to a new mattress and it was gonna take me a second to get used to .

I had Monday off for the power outage , so I was super excited just to like chill out and sleep in This mattress , though , oh , i can tell , my actual mattress from IKEA previously for the past five plus years did not have sufficient springs in it , i feel we even stood it up in the hallway and the thing collapsed in half And that's why I thought this isn't

right . You shouldn't use these mattresses long-term . And Mum's like no wonder you've got back issues . So I've had the mattress going on a week . Tomorrow I'm slowly like stretching out . I feel like for the past I've been like sleeping in a prawn fetal position , you know , curled up in a ball , when I didn't really need to be .

So I'm teaching myself to stretch out and actually like sleep on my back more or less , but I'm getting out of bed and there's no problems , like it's so good . It's so good And I'm so thankful . I said to Mum , please let me pay for half . And she just tossed her eyes in the air like she does Oh , susan and me .

But no , it was really lovely And it's super kind of my Mum to do that . She didn't have to . I was just trying to navigate my budget a little bit better .

I'm feeling very overwhelmed with the whole thing , but it was super cool because once we had the truck here in Cromwell our driver actually he plays for the Waukatepu Rugby team and he was playing the Cromwell goats at the rugby field And I threatened everyone to drive the truck onto the field so that we could all sit on it because it's freezing cold standing

there watching a game for 40 minutes each way . So once I got to the rugby grounds , there was no cars on the field and I stood there and I said the council's gonna hate me if I rip up the ground if I bring the truck on , because it's three tonnes , so it's not a baby , and I just saw red flags . So we didn't do that .

We parked it on the side and left it to it . But it was good getting back behind the wheel . I feel like I'm not driving as much anymore . My brother just has a driver now , so that's all sweet . But yeah , it was so fun to drive back to Queenstown on Sunday And , yeah , just do all those things that I don't get to do anymore .

But in saying that , oh , it's been such a strange week for my work at the moment I did see a question on Spotify and people are asking now what do I do for a job ? It's quite hard to articulate .

I work in a claims collections team that takes people to disputes , tribunal hearings for disputes where people don't think they're in the wrong , for motor vehicle accidents , contents damage , home damage , could be from a tradie , could be from a vehicle impacting a house . I've probably done it for five , six , seven years . I don't even know anymore .

I actually had my three year with the company that I'm working with now , anniversary last week . So three years one week with this company , super I've said super quite a lot . This podcast , so nice , sorry .

I'm really happy with myself because not only has it been quite strange , i also have worked basically the whole pandemic because I got the facilities to work from home And that's something that , like it's easy enough to work from home .

It's having the mindset and the perseverance to do it And it definitely comes with a lot of like strange stuff And I think I've done it for so long now I know what I do and don't do .

Really right , if that makes sense , i do remove myself from my desk and walk around the house and do all those things , but I do know of people that don't even get out of their pajamas to work from their homes And I think there needs to be that great separation between work and life .

It's stressful because obviously it's not face to face like I wouldn't want this job to be face to face but in saying that , people I feel like in the pandemic learnt their rights as , in a sense , and when you're a debt collector , you know you're talking about debt .

I've had great success at doing this job because I'm this super chill Kiwi chick from Central Otago who's really mindful of people's situations And we'll have a great chat and I've got great success out of people that just want to start payment plans and everything else . Yesterday I had a really crazy guy that literally his communication style was disgusting .

I actually had to end the call because there's nothing like wrong with .

I get it , people are frustrated and angry , but I'm still a person too , and if you can't hold a conversation without calling me every profanity under the sun and I'm not going to have a talk to you about this , at the end of the day I don't want people to be , like you know , depending on noodles to get a car accident paid off . It's not about that .

It's about understanding why you know we use the types of facilities that we do . Also , you know , repairers go through stringent certification and it's just such a requirement . So debt collection is a big part of my life And I definitely know the rules around what you can and can't do . And now I'm in that position to take people to hearings .

I've been in three hearings in the past month that were like I feel it's a professional thing , you go into this and you've got to represent someone , but the other parties most of the time don't have insurance companies to represent them .

So I have been in a hearing where , you know , the customer had the phone on the dash of their vehicle and they were in traffic And I said , oh , this is annoying , because not only do you need to , you know , listen and tell your side of the story . You also need to take time away from what you're doing to get this resolved .

And this guy was just driving his truck , you know , sorry , sorry , i've got , you know , traffic in front of me . No , no , pull over and actually have this discussion so it can get resolved appropriately . And , quite frankly , it's very common these days .

You know , just yesterday the lady was outside and she was doing gardening and it was a main road and all of a sudden her car's going past .

I was like , oh So I hold myself at a really high regard in the sense that I am very professional , but also I get really great results from my customers because I understand the situations and I think that when it is New Zealand based and we can have those conversations , given the , you know , economic situation we're in at the moment , i don't know I've just

got really great support in getting things across the line . So I am a debt collector , have done for seven years how I got into it ?

well , i applied for a job in Australia , didn't even know what it was , which is I've done that , you know , two or three times in my life and , yeah , just fallen into this kind of thing where you can negotiate and talk about things and get things resolved and explained . So I don't really talk about it too much , am I like ? oh , maybe I do .

My friends will know that this is what I do , but sometimes you know , when you meet someone in the pub and they well , what do you do ? I want to lie . Sometimes I have said that I work at Pack and Say , which is a supermarket , just because I don't want .

It's very overwhelming , especially to some people that have debt and they think that I'm after them or I'm going to knock at their door . No , no , remember , i'm sitting here in my Batman onesie and I work from my home . Sorry , i'm not going to knock on your door , it's fine .

So , yeah , about six , seven years worth of debt collection behind me , and it's crazy because I have had debt in the past . So I do understand .

You know there are rules and regulations about how to pursue someone for something and if you feel like you have debt and you're being unfairly treated , i definitely recommend you looking up the debt recovery guidelines for New Zealand or for that country that you are and I do know they are awesome international people because , yeah , some people do play below the

line and it's a terrible tactic . It's not one that I do .

I did have a bit of a question . Oh , it's a social question . I don't even know how to answer this biggest gym mistake Where do I start ? No , i think I kind of summed that up in my podcast on gyms and stuff like that .

But probably a mistake that I made is when I was dabbling in pre-workout and I do recommend pre-workout I was only talking to my co-worker yesterday about what happens when you take pre-workout In Australia . I was given by a Russian girl she was crazy , i can't remember her name , but like capsules of pre-workout and so I talked to and how do I describe this ?

I had to take a bus and a train to get to my gym . It's really weird . When you live in a major city , i would honestly tell you that everyone that I know that lives in a major city has to travel significant distances to get to their favourite gyms . They might live next to a gym , but it's not the right gym for them .

So for me , i was with SNAP Fitness in South Sydney and I had to catch a bus from Slovenia near Kranjala to Hearstville and then I caught a train , but while I was at the Hearstville train station there was a Mackers and I grabbed a Big Mac . Massive mistake . Someone should have told me I shouldn't have food with pre-workout .

I knocked back the two tablets once I got to the gym , which was like two stops from the Hearstville train station I don't even know what suburb it was , i couldn't tell you And I was on the treadmill and I remember feeling it kick in and I got goosebumps on my arms and I felt this weird surge of energy like too much . It was too much . I was sweating .

I was like whoa , what's happening ? I don't know the gym , no one knows that I'm here . I decided to like try and leave the gym and I'm seeing stars and red spots like this is not me .

And I walk out the door and I just power chuck and it was right next to the owner's tyre of his car and I blacked out like I'm full on , just blacked out Big Mac all over the pavement , my god . And yeah , it's one of those things that the dosage of pre-workout like . I don't know where she got these tablets from .

They probably were from Russia , i don't know . Don't take pre-workout from randoms . It's probably where I'm going with this . But yeah , i've now sort of settled into what I can and can't take and what dosage . And I'm probably one of those people that takes it in the morning with water , not a tough birch , that takes it just straight powder in the mouth .

No , no , we're not about the cinnamon challenge , guys . And then , yeah , just seeing how that is one of those things now where I take it six in the morning , i still can't have coffee until 1pm . Pre-workout is crazy . Biggest gym mistake was getting that right .

I haven't had any accidents at the gym that I can't cope with , but it's definitely that kind of thing . And also , yeah , i just think there's those types of things like oxy-shrad and yeah , there's quite a few of them where people think that's a pre-workout .

That's a thermogenic that goes you swallow it like in a with a glass of water or whatever , but it actually like heats inside you . I don't know , it's weird . I've taken it quite a lot actually over the past like 10 years and I don't see the results , but I feel swear by it . I wouldn't say that was a pre-workout .

I do remember when a girl I work with here with the company I'm with now , she was so excited when she got her first tub and I said , oh yeah , and she goes . I'm going to take some before I go to the gym . Tonight . It's pre-workout and I said no , no , no , no . I don't think you get any energy from that .

It just heats up your belly and maybe makes you sweat a little bit , but I wouldn't say it makes you feel like you're empowered to run or anything . I had heaps of responses about the Tinder . Probably had like seven people from Cromwell messaged me and asked me if I'd seen their partners . Oh god , sorry to inflict that stress on you .

It was a social experiment and right now I'm running a social experiment with some friends of mine and quite frankly , they were very quick . I actually was like oh , my friends know me too well . But the Tinder thing , yeah , look , i sort of outed myself here by saying I was Pandora in the little black box . Like , come on , guys , put two and two together .

No one's called Pandora in their profile picture is a black box , goes without saying . So I don't have that profile anymore , it's been deleted . I do know someone that wanted to be Pandora's mum and go on Tinder to look for people that she knew and I was like stop it , we're not doing this . This was just something to get back on the horse .

But I was talking to a guy at the nightclub on Saturday and he was like Jesus , you look so good right now . And I said , yeah , well , i've started a Tinder account and I'm just trying to , you know , feel good about myself and see what I can . You know if I could go on dates and stuff like that , like get your self confidence up ?

And yeah , he said to me oh , i had a Tinder once . Didn't go well . I said to him do you mind if I ask did you have Tinder pre or post pandemic ? And he says pre , why ? I says do it now Activate post pandemic ? There is a lot of people out there that are looking for love and a lot of new people in the region .

Central Otago in general Was kind of a bad weekend for me to have the Tinder because there were people here for a Mardi Gras And it's funny how people like update their profiles to say , oh , you know , in town for Mardi Gras , hit me up , albeit da , da , da , da , da ba .

But yeah , i actually think he is going to activate it And he was kind of a little bit hesitant . But I gave him confidence and I was like , if you come across me , don't forget to swipe right . I love him , but not like that . So , yeah , it's been really great and I'm still sort of filtering through . I've got a couple of weird messages .

One asked me for like something to do with my pin number because he wanted to put his pin in me . He asked me if I was like an ATM . I think it was because I want to put my pin in you . I was like , oh honey , no , guys are so funny sometimes . So , yeah , we're still tampering with that . I'll let you know when I'm engaged or anything .

So , as say , we had the goats here playing walk tipu , the Queen's Town team . I Love when these type of teams go up against each other . To me It's the wish of state of origin these two teams . I know it's rugby and league and I shouldn't compare , but when the regions compete like this it's fun .

And I know a handful of guys from the Queen's Town team , from Friends of mine who have little brothers in that team or cousins . So I was super excited to get down to the field and see them battle it out And of course , the goats won super exciting . So Curtis to them . They are playing in Alexandra this weekend . I don't think I'm going .

I've got a few things on tomorrow , so yeah , we'll see what happens . And then , state of origin Wednesday Well , wednesday was the only night I stayed up and I didn't drink any alcohol . And it's funny because the previous Wednesday I got it confused and I had a Couple of glasses of wine waiting for .

State of origin well , so happy to see that they won against New South Wales , but they were so scrappy that Queensland team and New South Wales , like I get it . There's a lot of aggression , a lot of testosterone , but like four or five scraps and the last one with the headbutt , i was like , oh , give me strength . Wine of the week is not a wine .

I Will let you know . I have A bottle of the Jason Mamoa's vodka and it's pronounced me melly , it's super smooth . I do recommend it . It turned up yesterday . Mum even had a shot of it and she was like what's it meant to taste like ? like I don't think she's ever really had a shot of vodka , just by itself , but she was impressed .

She didn't get that really burning aftertaste . So Yeah , kudos to the team there that have got that organized . And it is signed by Jason So Slowly ticking away the merch . From Jason Mamoa , we're not expecting a miracle here , people , but the same time , like I'm just Somehow collecting all this beautiful stuff to do with the man himself .

So I'm okay with that . And then , yeah , i just sort of wanted to touch on something that I was alerted to . I actually thought that my smart watch , my Garmin smart watch , was broken . I reached out to a few people and I was like I've had it for two years and it's not calculating anything , like it's . It's saying that my runs are a warm-up .

My heart rates only 110 . Normally It's like 150 , well , like 145 , 150 . And then so I persevere with it . I turned the stupid thing off and on and I did like a software update . I was like this , stupid things not tracking properly . No , no , it's me . It's not the watch , it's me .

I'm actually becoming one of those people that my recovery time after a run is So fast , like I'm getting back into it . It's not the watch , i'm actually just being Like better at my workouts and I'm so impressed I just jump for joy . I was like I'm not doing a warm-up , i'm just this is like not a stressful run anymore .

I'm becoming conditioned to do these kinds of distances . So What started out is like Monday , wednesday , friday , doing runs at the gym like just on the treadmill , nothing major , and I would always work up to like 20 minute runs . So five on the Monday , 10 to 15 on the Wednesday , 20 to 25 on the Friday .

Now it's like I could run half an hour on the Wednesday and 40 minutes on the Friday And I'm so happy . Like it's just one of those things where I don't like completely Track everything from my smartwatch . I get it . There's always like that little bit of like indifference , but When you start to think , oh my gosh , it's not working , no , no , it's you .

You're actually becoming Really like good at running and it's just tracking that . So I just wanted to bring that up . It's a huge achievement for myself and I'm just so proud I can't even put words into my mouth about it . It's just makes me feel good and warm and fuzzy inside , considering the weather . But no , i hope everyone has a really good weekend .

I'm apologizing that I'm getting this out before the weekend . I've just had a super strange week . I Will never say stupid , super in the next podcast . I do apologize , seems to be the word on my tongue right now And I can't shake it . Ah , but yeah , i am going to go into the living room and warm up my hands because I am freezing .

I was sitting on them there for a minute but yeah , it's not the same as sitting next to a fire . Everyone in the central Otago region , i understand , under this inversion cloud It makes you feel a bit down gets some vitamin D tablets make that , you know , warm , fuzzy feeling happen . It's so fun to think that .

Like Once it leaves , i'd I would rather it like snowed or rained or was windy , but this stagnant , stupid moisture cloud needs to go . I've had enough . But yeah , have a safe and wonderful weekend . I love you . So thank you so much for the support

. Number 13 I Was a little bit What do you call it ? Procrastinating to do this , because I know 13s an unlucky number , but no , it's been good . I've got a lot off my chest and I know that you all enjoy hearing about everything that's going on in Danny Dots life .

I can't do these things too much in advance because too much happens and then I just get the shits that I can't post it . Anyway , have a good one . I'll see you again soon . Bye .