January 21, 2025 • 23 mins
Josh aka Bearded_Nova
I'm from Australia and am what you would call a father who games. I have 5 kids so not as much time to game as I used to. But I still game and stream when I can. So come join me on Twitch in chat as we chill out.
Business Inquiries: Bearded-n0va@aussiebb.com.au
Josh aka Moorph
I'm a US-based husband and father of two boys. I work full-time and have been a content creator since 2000. I'm a YouTube partner, Twitch and LiveSpace streamer who founded a content creation coaching company called Elev8d Media Group (elev8d.media). I'm a blogger, streamer, podcaster, and video-er(?).
Business Inquiries: josh@elev8d.media
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
turning off normal human male mode.
Switching to dad mode.
Welcome in to dad mode withyour hosts bearded nova and
morph all right.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
So we're in january now.
Happy new year and the holidaysare past.
I know that.
You know we kind of took alittle bit of a hiatus around
the holidays.
But how, how was it for you?
How did it go?
Speaker 3 (00:29):
it's good.
It was a nice casual one.
You know, our lunch for us atmy mother's that's where we went
to this year not as big as whatI thought.
A lot of people didn't make itcovid's like making a spike
again in some ways, so somepeople didn't come because of
covid again.
Yeah yeah, that caught me offguard, yeah, covid, but you know
it was pretty good.
(00:50):
I will say I was surprised with,like, the gifts, because gifts
are always interesting when thefamily's giving me gifts,
because I don't know what.
You know we do the Amazon thing, like I have the Amazon list of
I'll put stuff in there overtime.
You know, this year I was likelate.
It was Amazon list of I'll putstuff in there over time.
That you know.
This time this year I was likelate.
(01:11):
It was like mid-December whereI'm like, oh shit, I need to put
stuff on the Amazon list forthem to know you know what I'm
interested in buying.
And then the wife said Ibrought it, it's coming.
You can't see the box, etc.
I had no clue, because normallyif you buy something off Amazon
she tells me don't look atAmazon, so I don't see what the
order is.
Right here I am fingers crossed.
Tobii eye tracker.
Tobii eye tracker it wasn'tTobii eye tracker because I've
been like having this thing.
You know it's $500, $600 eyetracking that I've had on there
(01:34):
for who knows how long now.
Probably a year, two years now.
Yeah, obviously I need to buyit myself, but no, it was good.
I got some stuff on my Steamdeck which was nice.
Family always surprised me,which is when I don't know
what's coming.
I have definitely no cluewhat's coming because I'm
probably the worst person to buyfor Probably similar to you, no
doubt.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Yeah, I tend to buy my own stuff and then when the
holidays come I'm like, oh crap,I already bought the cheap
stuff for myself, at least allthe expensive stuff for people
to buy me.
But I, unlike you, I don't getany surprises, because we do the
same thing.
We fill out Amazon lists andthen I know people, we just
rifle down and buy everything onthe list or whatever.
You know what I mean, sothere's not a lot of surprises.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Well, I mean, it's a surprise on what item out of the
Amazon list you're getting.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Like am I surprise on what item out of the amazon
list you're getting?
Like, am I getting all of them?
Are we getting some of them?
If I put cheap enough stuff,I'm probably gonna get most of
it, you know.
Yeah, I put a 3d printer thatyou have on mine and that didn't
get touched.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
Yeah, obviously I didn't get a message about it,
so that yeah the.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
The only surprise that ever happens is if my wife
is always curious did I wrap mygifts or did I just have them
put in an amazon gift bag?
Speaker 3 (02:44):
yeah, yeah, because I detest wrapping presents I did
differently for the wife, thoughthis year, because normally
it's like a bit of jewelry orsomething like.
I've pretty much been likerinse and repeat similar items
for the last I don't know howmany years 10 years but this
year I got her glasses, likewent in surprise with like a
nice pair of glasses, and thentoday that's why the co-host
(03:05):
she's got a like a four hour spaday thing, so she's off to do
that before she returns to towork next week.
So I was like I've donesomething different, nailed it,
spent more than you, um um.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Did you, do you get your shopping done early?
Are you a last minute person?
I'm a last minute person last.
Yeah, I used to be more lastminute and it bit me hard one
year, so now I actually dothings earlier.
Yeah, yeah, because I rememberthere's one year I bought gifts
like the day before.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Yeah oh man, I wasn't concerned.
Oh, we're turning cameras offhere.
Now we got about that.
She's got buttons.
She's got, but can stream deckbuttons.
We my my last minute gifts arenever really a concern because
they're not ones that are hardto come by.
I guess half the time like I'mpretty pretty good and usually
with work, how my work's alwaysdone.
(04:03):
I'm finishing up a few, youknow, a week before christmas,
so there's a week there where Ican pretty much go as it as I
wish and walk around and I'vegot time.
At the same time, the wifeusually has me picking up gifts,
like we.
This year we did a lot of likeclick and collect with
everything, where we ordered itall online at the stores and
(04:24):
then I just went around tocollect it, the order okay so so
you had to pick it up.
You don't have delivered, youcan't even get delivered, but
sometimes it's like the shop'sfive minutes down the road.
Oh right, why pay fifty dollarsfor a delivery or whatever when
I get to get it from theirwarehouse, when I can just go
and pick it up from the shop andthen, at the same time, that
(04:47):
gives me an opportunity to havea look at the things that I need
to buy too?
Speaker 2 (04:51):
right.
So speaking of that, like whenI go into stores or even looking
online at stuff to buy, youknow I'm like, oh wait, what
should I get my kids?
What should I get my wife?
Whatever, and inevitably I willspend half the time.
Oh, I want this and I want toyes.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Yes yes, yes, that is me all the time.
Oh, you don't need that.
You can have that though.
How do the kids go?
The kids happy with everything.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Christmas is, I hate yeah, they, they they were
what's interesting is we weretalking about lists.
So, like my, my younger son, hehas a birthday in september and
then christmas.
Yeah, he starts writing a listfor each of those holidays, like
two, three months ahead of time, right, and he's, he's putting
item numbers down, he's puttingprices.
(05:35):
You know all this, my oldestson, yeah, just will not tell us
anything.
He wants ever, yeah, ever, yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
We're just always guessing yeah, this, this was
the first year ours actuallygave us details on things that
they wanted, which made it waymore easier to buy.
I guess, like it's just like,this is what I want.
It went through, you know, oneof the but actually one of the
doors has got into star warsrecently.
Oh cool, yeah, yeah, it's cool,like, come out.
(06:04):
It's like I like Star Wars.
I'm like whoa, whoa, whoa, comeinto my room and then I think I
had like a I don't know.
I want to say like a 12-inchDarth Vader doll that was still
in a package, sitting sat on thetop of this cabinet here.
That's where it's been.
I'm like, here you can havethis, add this to start your
collection, type of thing.
Like you got nothing, here yougo.
It turns out I don't know how Ifeel she is a fan of the dark
(06:29):
side.
Oh, really, oh yeah, yeah, doesit surprise you A little bit?
Yeah, I wasn't expecting her toturn around and go.
Darth Vader is my favoritecharacter.
I was like, oh, interesting,interesting.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
This says a lot about you.
Yeah, that should be like apersonality test for like a job
or whatever.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Like you know, do you represent with the jedi or the
sith, you know, yeah, yeah, she,you know.
She turned around in her listthere was a pop, a funko pop,
some luke skywalker limitededition thing that's no longer
in production.
She's like this is what I'dreally like.
It's like okay, cool.
Now I gotta try and track downthis couple hundred dollar pop
out of where can I find it?
Yeah, she doesn't listen tothis, but found it online at a
(07:12):
like someone had traded intolike a porn store and they
didn't know the value.
So, yeah, yeah, so got it forthat's cool, a quarter of the
price that it's going for,because they just put it up as a
pop, thinking it was a poplimited edition, but not
actually looking into what theprice of it is.
Yep yeah what hat you child?
My child has become the otherchild's, become a cat recently.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
I don't let me see if I can fix this up, just just to
see if it's the wrong way don'trealize that we have another
co-host today, his infantdaughter, his toddler daughter,
and she is proceeding to unplugeverything, turn everything on
and off.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
She's cute, but she's causing havoc for him.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
Yeah, the other day I had my coffee cup on the
windowsill behind the couch andI wasn't looking.
But she had actually got thecup and, like a ninja, took off
across the room and then, likeit was nothing, there was
remnants of my coffee left mymorning coffee there, but you
hear this like clink of glassand that's like whoa, hold on,
where is she?
(08:17):
You find her stashed around thecorner, just near this door.
Actually, that cabinet behindme there there's like a little.
She was sitting right theredrinking coffee, thinking she
was the best in the world.
Yeah, she's become feral.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
She did all right at christmas, though she did all
right at christmas, and theyalways do, and the older you get
, the less you get.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Well, it's not that's what we're trying to say to the
other kids.
It looks bad because whenyou're looking at all the kids
presents hers are massive, likethey take up the space of
everyone else's.
But little kids, you can buythese gifts and they don't cost
much, but they take up a giantamount of packaging.
You know we've got all thissoft play, blocks and stuff so
(08:57):
she can.
You know stairs and trianglesand stuff she can climb over and
do what she wants.
And don't turn off my mic.
When you pack that up it's likethe size of a tree.
You know what I mean.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Stop that, stop zooming.
Like the size of the tree.
You know what I mean this, yeah, let's stop that, stop zooming.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Yeah, I can't wait to see the editing.
This is gonna be fantastic.
But then at the same time Iactually got into like I almost
got into a situation atchristmas, like a real bad
situation.
Coming into christmas.
I got onto I was watching tvand the facebook page popped up
for like an auction and a realauction house.
They do you know a lot of stuff, but they were auctioning off
kids' toys like a kids' toy shopToy shop was refurbishing or
(09:43):
restructuring, it was, so theywere selling lots of the
inventory and it was all theselittle play kitchens.
I'm like, oh perfect, I'll gether a play kitchen.
It'll be great.
Yeah, I put a bid on about 20different play kitchens and
accessories and at one stage Iwas winning all of them and yeah
, they weren't they.
Yes, they weren't going to costmuch.
(10:03):
I were like 30 each.
Yeah, ten dollars each, somewere ten dollars, some were five
dollars.
You know, it was all over theplace yeah but it dawned on me
at one stage.
I'm like, cool, even if I winthem, I'll pick whichever one we
like the best.
We might keep one or two, wemight give one or two away,
we'll sell the rest onMarketplace or something like
that.
You know, Craigslist Gumtree,get rid of it, you know.
(10:32):
But then it dawned on me I hatedealing with people, so that
was going to be my wife'sproblem.
Even though I'm in sales, Idon't like privately selling
things because I hate dealingwith the general public of oh,
will you take, you know, onequarter of what you're asking
for?
I'll trade you this brokenthing for that thing.
Just shit like that.
I don't want to deal with it.
If I put up, it's 50 bucks,it's 50 bucks.
Don't tell me that it'sanything else.
(10:56):
I'm not, I'm not interested.
Yeah, turns out I didn't.
I only won the one kitchen inthe end, so I didn't have to.
But geez, it was alwaysstarting to panic when it
started getting closer to likeoh crap, I'm about to win a
whole lot of, whole lot of craphere.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Yeah you know the one thing that did happen over the
holiday, and you, this is mywife and I took a vacation and
had my mom come stay with theboys, so we went to Mexico for a
week.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
You didn't tell, we didn't talk about this.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
You know what About?
Once a year my wife and I dothat.
We go on a vacation byourselves.
My mom comes and stays with theboys.
It's usually during school, soJersey lost home.
Home was there in school all dayanyway, and we usually do it
for our anniversary.
We go somewhere and they getmad.
Now I get it because we'regoing and doing something and
(11:42):
having fun without them.
Yeah, but also, like whenyou're married, sometimes you
just want to spend some timealone either.
Today, you know, yeah, youthink that's.
Is that something you wouldever do?
Speaker 3 (11:54):
yeah, yeah, trying to look at that actually by this
year.
I don't know the wife's lookingat that.
It's like, okay, cool, we cando that before now.
Dakota changes that.
You know what we do there.
Please don't go into the corneragain.
Oh yeah, she's just dead togone straight back into, but
it's something we're looking atnow.
At the moment it's like, okay,now we're gonna trial run with
(12:15):
her, we'll take her out to mymom's house, we'll drop her off,
we'll see how she goes for anight out there or a day or
something.
You know we're not.
She's been there before for aday, but be out the house should
go overnight.
We haven't done that yet,especially, especially this year
.
I've got a lot of celebrations,like a lot of 40-ups, to go to
this year.
Yeah, so already in January.
(12:36):
I think I've got two or threethis month to go to, so I'm
going to have.
I know I've got a lot for thefirst half of the year, so
there's a lot to be.
She's going to come to a few,but there's going to be times
where you know, can I take herout, can we go?
Yeah, it's one of thosesituations.
I don't know what we can dothere, but I know the wife wants
to do that for the weddinganniversary this year.
(12:58):
She wants to go away, so Ithink that's what this is all
leading up to.
How did your boys handle it?
I guess I mean it's like aholiday for them, though, too.
You know what I mean.
Parents ain't done.
The rules are out the windowwhen grandma's here it's, you
know, free for all they could dowhatever they want.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
That's what I mean.
It's like holiday and and solike I don't really feel that
bad about it, but I do know,because this is like the third
time we've done it.
I think the third time, thirdor fourth time that we've done
it, yeah, and they the youngerone seems to be getting a little
bit like hey, what the hell,man, you know he's cluing on
yeah, yeah.
(13:37):
So you know we we felt a littlebit guilty this year, but that
was mexico.
It's important something it was.
It was, so it was raining, alittle bit more rainy down there
, but otherwise it was beautifulit's totally different climate
to where you are zero degreeweather where I live, and so we
(13:58):
go down where it's like 80something plus every day.
You know we're going swimmingand all that stuff.
It's more similar to my climatezone, I guess yes, yeah,
without all of the insanecreatures that you have roaming
around australia.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Yeah, yeah, we do yeah, we do, we do.
She got fascinated with aspider yesterday, so oh yeah,
was it a huntsman spider?
Speaker 2 (14:23):
the ones that like the size of my head?
Speaker 3 (14:25):
nah, it's a tiny little thing.
I actually don't know what itwas, but just push to the Look.
We just don't play with spiders, okay we?
Speaker 1 (14:33):
don't need to do that .
Speaker 3 (14:35):
We don't need to do that.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Do you mind Um just destroying?
Speaker 3 (14:41):
the printer.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
She's doing what?
Speaker 3 (14:42):
destroying the 3d printer at the moment.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Oh, well, you know, there you go um, just become one
like a cat.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
She climbs things, pulls apart things, climbs under
.
But just before we got to, thisstarted recording.
We're in the lounge room.
I was watching tv.
Next thing, you know, I see herlaying on the ground and then I
look at the ground she's gone.
Oh crap, where did she go?
Now our couch?
Right, that's.
This is this.
You know, I see her laying onthe ground and then I look at
the ground and she's gone.
Oh crap, where did she go?
Now our couch right, this is aPixel 8 Pro.
(15:10):
Our couch is about an inchshorter than a Pixel 8 Pro.
Off the ground, she had somehowsqueezed her entire body
underneath the couch and intothe body of the couch.
What?
Yeah, I didn't think she wasthat small, but she is, so she
could like just squeezeunderneath the couch and then
she was underneath there playingthere for like 20 minutes how
(15:34):
did she?
I don't know how.
It's like a rat.
You know how like rats can likesqueeze their skulls through
tight gaps.
I'm assuming, yeah, that's thesituation that I'm dealing with
here.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
She's a devil sounds like she is, would be good at
like one of those escape rooms.
Oh yeah yeah, she's getting outof prison yeah, yeah prison
break.
Really she's just yeah futureprison break yeah, I can see,
that I can see, but other thanthat holidays was great.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
I look forward to the rest of the school holidays.
I myself have got about anotherweek at a bit off work, week
off work or something, before Ineed to return.
Yeah, I did, I did plan on likedoing streaming and like doing
stuff.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Yeah, you know you've not done anything.
You know I've.
I've had some time lately and Iwas gonna do some more streaming
.
Yeah, I have done it once, like, not not once, and I don't want
to say that I'm just over itbecause I'm I still like it.
I just don't have anymotivation to do it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
(16:38):
So you know, it's cool.
Like you know, we we did ourfirst dad mode live stream, uh,
about a month ago, I think.
Right, yeah, this was great,we'll do it every week.
We haven't done it since.
No, you know, in fact, I'mwondering why we weren't doing
it tonight, and I think Ithought about it, but I didn't
bring it up because I didn'treally want to have to do it
live on twitch.
(16:58):
But it was fun.
It was still fun.
You know, we had people show upand it was, it was.
It was a good time.
We even had my moderatoraccidentally joined the live
broadcast.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
That was great, yeah no, I think at some point that
just takes way more organizingthat neither of us, even though
we're organized people outsideof this, we are not organized
people when it comes tostreaming anymore not, not
anymore.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
And, like you know, I play a lot of.
I've been known to play alittle bit of Call of Duty here
and there, and if I were playingthat on stream, the way you
have to play it, it's not like acasual game.
You have to pay attention 100%of the time, so there isn't like
hey, how you guys doing, ohcrap, I just died, that's not
happening.
I have to pay attention to athousand percent.
(17:43):
Um, and so, yeah, have youplayed rivals?
Yet I played modern warfare 3,from season 2 on straight into
black ops 6, and I played.
I don't even know if I'veplayed anything else since I
started modern warfare 3 alittle over a year ago you gotta
try marvel rivals out I'mobsessed, try it.
(18:07):
You gotta try it.
I tried it.
I've heard that it's fun.
I've heard a lot of games arefun.
I just I just never played thembecause I have this activision
that has like a chip in my heador something.
It's like you must play, youmust play, must play more.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
You've been converted .
I'm trying to resist all themicrotransactions, but geez man.
Everyone, every Call of Dutyplayer, gets this weird
obsession with the game wherethey can't break free and it
seems like, you know, it's likeApple users.
Really, Call of Duty playersand Apple iPhone users are very
similar in the sense that oncethey're in, they're in.
They can't get out of it.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
They're completely stuck in the economy or the
ecosystem.
Yeah it, I don't know what itis.
I mean, yeah, there's a lot ofgame modes and stuff you can do,
but it's it's the same thingover and over and over again,
you know?
No, the matches are quick, theaction is fast, and maybe that's
what it is like.
You get this rush of likeadrenaline or whatever, and then
like I need more of that, soyou keep playing, you know and
how are you going?
Speaker 3 (19:07):
what else I want to?
Speaker 2 (19:08):
be better.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
So I play a lot, you know are you getting up there
your your gameplay skills?
Speaker 2 (19:13):
evolved.
I'm getting up there.
My overall kd and black upsixes is over a one now, so oh,
I'm a little bit better thanaverage now we, we'd uh take you
serious now.
That's what you're trying tosay, yeah, I told you I had the
102 kill game a couple, like amonth or so ago oh really yeah
yeah, have you tried the warzoneyet or you're still staying?
(19:36):
no, I haven't.
I played warzone once becausemy my son, who is an avid
fortnite player, battle royalewants me, wanted me to do
warzone, because you know it's asimilar concept, and I did it
and it was okay.
I think I finished like top 10or something.
But it's so different than whatI play because I play
multiplayer and the maps arerelatively small compared to war
(19:56):
zone, so it was just unfamiliarto me, you know so but it was
okay.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
So my son's actually involved.
He's gaming recently too, sweethim.
So he went from like yourfortnights and all that to
rainbow six siege oh yeah, nice.
I was like, okay, so he'sgetting right into siege.
And I'm like, okay, okay,that's pretty cool.
I I get a message from him theother day asking me about Elden
(20:24):
Ring.
So he's now progressed to aSouls player recently.
It's like okay, good luck.
Oh, like, is it free on GamePass or something?
Is that how you're playing it?
He's like you know thePlayStation.
And he's like no, no, no, Ibrought it with my money.
Okay, so I'm intrigued.
I didn't see this.
As you know, it's interestingwatching your children's gaming
(20:49):
taste evolve over time, how theychange from one game to the
next game you don't know wherethey're going with.
You know, if you'd asked me ifI saw my son playing a Souls
game, no, I did not see himplaying a Souls game anytime
soon.
He seemed to much like shooters, but now he's a souls player.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
You know you can kind of brag a little bit like if he
wants some tips for elden ring.
You know one of the best eldenring content creators youtube
pastor gains pastor gains gamesyes, you know, I did.
I did rub it into him a littlebit that I'm still a better
souls player than what he is,though yeah, yeah, I think I
(21:26):
talked about it before my, myson, my older son, he, he
watched whenever he sits downand watches me play cod or
whatever.
Yeah, it's just constant.
You should do this.
Oh, look over there, you shoulddo this.
Your aim is terrible.
Blah, blah, blah.
Yeah, it's just like man, quiet, quiet down, quiet down.
I don't need some vaccine cupgaming.
(21:46):
No, no, he wants me to playfortnight with him and I think
that's cool that he wants me to.
But I've listened to him playwith his brother and he is just
barking out orders, you know,and it's all the crap and I'm
like I don't want any part ofthat.
Speaker 3 (22:04):
No, thank you, you know.
No, this is the other thing.
I've got a box in my room herethat I haven't been able to get
away, get rid of for ages,because that's a go-to spot is
to just randomly go and sit inthe box like this right now
that's it just sit in the box,then in the box, all right.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Do you notice?
That happens when you buy them,like tying it back to the
beginning?
Yeah, christmas gifts, you buysomething fancy and they love it
.
I mean they like it.
They love the box it came in.
They do they do, they do?
What the hell, man?
I don't know, I don't know.
Makes sense, makes no sensesense.
So I mean, we had greatholidays.
I hope everybody who'slistening to this had a great
(22:43):
holiday too yeah and we'll talkto you next time yeah, you've
been listening to dad mode.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Our passion is navigating this wild journey of
parenthood and modern life, frombalancing family time to
managing your career and stillsqueezing in some gaming and
content creation.
And no matter what the womensay, they will never be able to
pry the controller out of ourcold dead hands.
(23:16):
Anyway, we hope you enjoyed theshow.
If you did, find us on Twitter,TikTok and YouTube at
DadModePodcast and we can befound on every podcast site at
DadModePodcast Y'all be cool.
See you next time.
turning off normal human male mode.
Switching to dad mode.
Welcome in to dad mode withyour hosts bearded nova and
morph all right.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
So we're in january now.
Happy new year and the holidaysare past.
I know that.
You know we kind of took alittle bit of a hiatus around
the holidays.
But how, how was it for you?
How did it go?
Speaker 3 (00:29):
it's good.
It was a nice casual one.
You know, our lunch for us atmy mother's that's where we went
to this year not as big as whatI thought.
A lot of people didn't make itcovid's like making a spike
again in some ways, so somepeople didn't come because of
covid again.
Yeah yeah, that caught me offguard, yeah, covid, but you know
it was pretty good.
(00:50):
I will say I was surprised with,like, the gifts, because gifts
are always interesting when thefamily's giving me gifts,
because I don't know what.
You know we do the Amazon thing, like I have the Amazon list of
I'll put stuff in there overtime.
You know, this year I was likelate.
It was Amazon list of I'll putstuff in there over time.
That you know.
This time this year I was likelate.
(01:11):
It was like mid-December whereI'm like, oh shit, I need to put
stuff on the Amazon list forthem to know you know what I'm
interested in buying.
And then the wife said Ibrought it, it's coming.
You can't see the box, etc.
I had no clue, because normallyif you buy something off Amazon
she tells me don't look atAmazon, so I don't see what the
order is.
Right here I am fingers crossed.
Tobii eye tracker.
Tobii eye tracker it wasn'tTobii eye tracker because I've
been like having this thing.
You know it's $500, $600 eyetracking that I've had on there
(01:34):
for who knows how long now.
Probably a year, two years now.
Yeah, obviously I need to buyit myself, but no, it was good.
I got some stuff on my Steamdeck which was nice.
Family always surprised me,which is when I don't know
what's coming.
I have definitely no cluewhat's coming because I'm
probably the worst person to buyfor Probably similar to you, no
doubt.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Yeah, I tend to buy my own stuff and then when the
holidays come I'm like, oh crap,I already bought the cheap
stuff for myself, at least allthe expensive stuff for people
to buy me.
But I, unlike you, I don't getany surprises, because we do the
same thing.
We fill out Amazon lists andthen I know people, we just
rifle down and buy everything onthe list or whatever.
You know what I mean, sothere's not a lot of surprises.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Well, I mean, it's a surprise on what item out of the
Amazon list you're getting.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Like am I surprise on what item out of the amazon
list you're getting?
Like, am I getting all of them?
Are we getting some of them?
If I put cheap enough stuff,I'm probably gonna get most of
it, you know.
Yeah, I put a 3d printer thatyou have on mine and that didn't
get touched.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
Yeah, obviously I didn't get a message about it,
so that yeah the.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
The only surprise that ever happens is if my wife
is always curious did I wrap mygifts or did I just have them
put in an amazon gift bag?
Speaker 3 (02:44):
yeah, yeah, because I detest wrapping presents I did
differently for the wife, thoughthis year, because normally
it's like a bit of jewelry orsomething like.
I've pretty much been likerinse and repeat similar items
for the last I don't know howmany years 10 years but this
year I got her glasses, likewent in surprise with like a
nice pair of glasses, and thentoday that's why the co-host
(03:05):
she's got a like a four hour spaday thing, so she's off to do
that before she returns to towork next week.
So I was like I've donesomething different, nailed it,
spent more than you, um um.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Did you, do you get your shopping done early?
Are you a last minute person?
I'm a last minute person last.
Yeah, I used to be more lastminute and it bit me hard one
year, so now I actually dothings earlier.
Yeah, yeah, because I rememberthere's one year I bought gifts
like the day before.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Yeah oh man, I wasn't concerned.
Oh, we're turning cameras offhere.
Now we got about that.
She's got buttons.
She's got, but can stream deckbuttons.
We my my last minute gifts arenever really a concern because
they're not ones that are hardto come by.
I guess half the time like I'mpretty pretty good and usually
with work, how my work's alwaysdone.
(04:03):
I'm finishing up a few, youknow, a week before christmas,
so there's a week there where Ican pretty much go as it as I
wish and walk around and I'vegot time.
At the same time, the wifeusually has me picking up gifts,
like we.
This year we did a lot of likeclick and collect with
everything, where we ordered itall online at the stores and
(04:24):
then I just went around tocollect it, the order okay so so
you had to pick it up.
You don't have delivered, youcan't even get delivered, but
sometimes it's like the shop'sfive minutes down the road.
Oh right, why pay fifty dollarsfor a delivery or whatever when
I get to get it from theirwarehouse, when I can just go
and pick it up from the shop andthen, at the same time, that
(04:47):
gives me an opportunity to havea look at the things that I need
to buy too?
Speaker 2 (04:51):
right.
So speaking of that, like whenI go into stores or even looking
online at stuff to buy, youknow I'm like, oh wait, what
should I get my kids?
What should I get my wife?
Whatever, and inevitably I willspend half the time.
Oh, I want this and I want toyes.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Yes yes, yes, that is me all the time.
Oh, you don't need that.
You can have that though.
How do the kids go?
The kids happy with everything.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Christmas is, I hate yeah, they, they they were
what's interesting is we weretalking about lists.
So, like my, my younger son, hehas a birthday in september and
then christmas.
Yeah, he starts writing a listfor each of those holidays, like
two, three months ahead of time, right, and he's, he's putting
item numbers down, he's puttingprices.
(05:35):
You know all this, my oldestson, yeah, just will not tell us
anything.
He wants ever, yeah, ever, yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
We're just always guessing yeah, this, this was
the first year ours actuallygave us details on things that
they wanted, which made it waymore easier to buy.
I guess, like it's just like,this is what I want.
It went through, you know, oneof the but actually one of the
doors has got into star warsrecently.
Oh cool, yeah, yeah, it's cool,like, come out.
(06:04):
It's like I like Star Wars.
I'm like whoa, whoa, whoa, comeinto my room and then I think I
had like a I don't know.
I want to say like a 12-inchDarth Vader doll that was still
in a package, sitting sat on thetop of this cabinet here.
That's where it's been.
I'm like, here you can havethis, add this to start your
collection, type of thing.
Like you got nothing, here yougo.
It turns out I don't know how Ifeel she is a fan of the dark
(06:29):
side.
Oh, really, oh yeah, yeah, doesit surprise you A little bit?
Yeah, I wasn't expecting her toturn around and go.
Darth Vader is my favoritecharacter.
I was like, oh, interesting,interesting.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
This says a lot about you.
Yeah, that should be like apersonality test for like a job
or whatever.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Like you know, do you represent with the jedi or the
sith, you know, yeah, yeah, she,you know.
She turned around in her listthere was a pop, a funko pop,
some luke skywalker limitededition thing that's no longer
in production.
She's like this is what I'dreally like.
It's like okay, cool.
Now I gotta try and track downthis couple hundred dollar pop
out of where can I find it?
Yeah, she doesn't listen tothis, but found it online at a
(07:12):
like someone had traded intolike a porn store and they
didn't know the value.
So, yeah, yeah, so got it forthat's cool, a quarter of the
price that it's going for,because they just put it up as a
pop, thinking it was a poplimited edition, but not
actually looking into what theprice of it is.
Yep yeah what hat you child?
My child has become the otherchild's, become a cat recently.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
I don't let me see if I can fix this up, just just to
see if it's the wrong way don'trealize that we have another
co-host today, his infantdaughter, his toddler daughter,
and she is proceeding to unplugeverything, turn everything on
and off.
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
She's cute, but she's causing havoc for him.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
Yeah, the other day I had my coffee cup on the
windowsill behind the couch andI wasn't looking.
But she had actually got thecup and, like a ninja, took off
across the room and then, likeit was nothing, there was
remnants of my coffee left mymorning coffee there, but you
hear this like clink of glassand that's like whoa, hold on,
where is she?
(08:17):
You find her stashed around thecorner, just near this door.
Actually, that cabinet behindme there there's like a little.
She was sitting right theredrinking coffee, thinking she
was the best in the world.
Yeah, she's become feral.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
She did all right at christmas, though she did all
right at christmas, and theyalways do, and the older you get
, the less you get.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Well, it's not that's what we're trying to say to the
other kids.
It looks bad because whenyou're looking at all the kids
presents hers are massive, likethey take up the space of
everyone else's.
But little kids, you can buythese gifts and they don't cost
much, but they take up a giantamount of packaging.
You know we've got all thissoft play, blocks and stuff so
(08:57):
she can.
You know stairs and trianglesand stuff she can climb over and
do what she wants.
And don't turn off my mic.
When you pack that up it's likethe size of a tree.
You know what I mean.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Stop that, stop zooming.
Like the size of the tree.
You know what I mean this, yeah, let's stop that, stop zooming.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Yeah, I can't wait to see the editing.
This is gonna be fantastic.
But then at the same time Iactually got into like I almost
got into a situation atchristmas, like a real bad
situation.
Coming into christmas.
I got onto I was watching tvand the facebook page popped up
for like an auction and a realauction house.
They do you know a lot of stuff, but they were auctioning off
kids' toys like a kids' toy shopToy shop was refurbishing or
(09:43):
restructuring, it was, so theywere selling lots of the
inventory and it was all theselittle play kitchens.
I'm like, oh perfect, I'll gether a play kitchen.
It'll be great.
Yeah, I put a bid on about 20different play kitchens and
accessories and at one stage Iwas winning all of them and yeah
, they weren't they.
Yes, they weren't going to costmuch.
(10:03):
I were like 30 each.
Yeah, ten dollars each, somewere ten dollars, some were five
dollars.
You know, it was all over theplace yeah but it dawned on me
at one stage.
I'm like, cool, even if I winthem, I'll pick whichever one we
like the best.
We might keep one or two, wemight give one or two away,
we'll sell the rest onMarketplace or something like
that.
You know, Craigslist Gumtree,get rid of it, you know.
(10:32):
But then it dawned on me I hatedealing with people, so that
was going to be my wife'sproblem.
Even though I'm in sales, Idon't like privately selling
things because I hate dealingwith the general public of oh,
will you take, you know, onequarter of what you're asking
for?
I'll trade you this brokenthing for that thing.
Just shit like that.
I don't want to deal with it.
If I put up, it's 50 bucks,it's 50 bucks.
Don't tell me that it'sanything else.
(10:56):
I'm not, I'm not interested.
Yeah, turns out I didn't.
I only won the one kitchen inthe end, so I didn't have to.
But geez, it was alwaysstarting to panic when it
started getting closer to likeoh crap, I'm about to win a
whole lot of, whole lot of craphere.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Yeah you know the one thing that did happen over the
holiday, and you, this is mywife and I took a vacation and
had my mom come stay with theboys, so we went to Mexico for a
week.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
You didn't tell, we didn't talk about this.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
You know what About?
Once a year my wife and I dothat.
We go on a vacation byourselves.
My mom comes and stays with theboys.
It's usually during school, soJersey lost home.
Home was there in school all dayanyway, and we usually do it
for our anniversary.
We go somewhere and they getmad.
Now I get it because we'regoing and doing something and
(11:42):
having fun without them.
Yeah, but also, like whenyou're married, sometimes you
just want to spend some timealone either.
Today, you know, yeah, youthink that's.
Is that something you wouldever do?
Speaker 3 (11:54):
yeah, yeah, trying to look at that actually by this
year.
I don't know the wife's lookingat that.
It's like, okay, cool, we cando that before now.
Dakota changes that.
You know what we do there.
Please don't go into the corneragain.
Oh yeah, she's just dead togone straight back into, but
it's something we're looking atnow.
At the moment it's like, okay,now we're gonna trial run with
(12:15):
her, we'll take her out to mymom's house, we'll drop her off,
we'll see how she goes for anight out there or a day or
something.
You know we're not.
She's been there before for aday, but be out the house should
go overnight.
We haven't done that yet,especially, especially this year
.
I've got a lot of celebrations,like a lot of 40-ups, to go to
this year.
Yeah, so already in January.
(12:36):
I think I've got two or threethis month to go to, so I'm
going to have.
I know I've got a lot for thefirst half of the year, so
there's a lot to be.
She's going to come to a few,but there's going to be times
where you know, can I take herout, can we go?
Yeah, it's one of thosesituations.
I don't know what we can dothere, but I know the wife wants
to do that for the weddinganniversary this year.
(12:58):
She wants to go away, so Ithink that's what this is all
leading up to.
How did your boys handle it?
I guess I mean it's like aholiday for them, though, too.
You know what I mean.
Parents ain't done.
The rules are out the windowwhen grandma's here it's, you
know, free for all they could dowhatever they want.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
That's what I mean.
It's like holiday and and solike I don't really feel that
bad about it, but I do know,because this is like the third
time we've done it.
I think the third time, thirdor fourth time that we've done
it, yeah, and they the youngerone seems to be getting a little
bit like hey, what the hell,man, you know he's cluing on
yeah, yeah.
(13:37):
So you know we we felt a littlebit guilty this year, but that
was mexico.
It's important something it was.
It was, so it was raining, alittle bit more rainy down there
, but otherwise it was beautifulit's totally different climate
to where you are zero degreeweather where I live, and so we
(13:58):
go down where it's like 80something plus every day.
You know we're going swimmingand all that stuff.
It's more similar to my climatezone, I guess yes, yeah,
without all of the insanecreatures that you have roaming
around australia.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Yeah, yeah, we do yeah, we do, we do.
She got fascinated with aspider yesterday, so oh yeah,
was it a huntsman spider?
Speaker 2 (14:23):
the ones that like the size of my head?
Speaker 3 (14:25):
nah, it's a tiny little thing.
I actually don't know what itwas, but just push to the Look.
We just don't play with spiders, okay we?
Speaker 1 (14:33):
don't need to do that .
Speaker 3 (14:35):
We don't need to do that.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Do you mind Um just destroying?
Speaker 3 (14:41):
the printer.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
She's doing what?
Speaker 3 (14:42):
destroying the 3d printer at the moment.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Oh, well, you know, there you go um, just become one
like a cat.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
She climbs things, pulls apart things, climbs under
.
But just before we got to, thisstarted recording.
We're in the lounge room.
I was watching tv.
Next thing, you know, I see herlaying on the ground and then I
look at the ground she's gone.
Oh crap, where did she go?
Now our couch?
Right, that's.
This is this.
You know, I see her laying onthe ground and then I look at
the ground and she's gone.
Oh crap, where did she go?
Now our couch right, this is aPixel 8 Pro.
(15:10):
Our couch is about an inchshorter than a Pixel 8 Pro.
Off the ground, she had somehowsqueezed her entire body
underneath the couch and intothe body of the couch.
What?
Yeah, I didn't think she wasthat small, but she is, so she
could like just squeezeunderneath the couch and then
she was underneath there playingthere for like 20 minutes how
(15:34):
did she?
I don't know how.
It's like a rat.
You know how like rats can likesqueeze their skulls through
tight gaps.
I'm assuming, yeah, that's thesituation that I'm dealing with
here.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
She's a devil sounds like she is, would be good at
like one of those escape rooms.
Oh yeah yeah, she's getting outof prison yeah, yeah prison
break.
Really she's just yeah futureprison break yeah, I can see,
that I can see, but other thanthat holidays was great.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
I look forward to the rest of the school holidays.
I myself have got about anotherweek at a bit off work, week
off work or something, before Ineed to return.
Yeah, I did, I did plan on likedoing streaming and like doing
stuff.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Yeah, you know you've not done anything.
You know I've.
I've had some time lately and Iwas gonna do some more streaming
.
Yeah, I have done it once, like, not not once, and I don't want
to say that I'm just over itbecause I'm I still like it.
I just don't have anymotivation to do it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
(16:38):
So you know, it's cool.
Like you know, we we did ourfirst dad mode live stream, uh,
about a month ago, I think.
Right, yeah, this was great,we'll do it every week.
We haven't done it since.
No, you know, in fact, I'mwondering why we weren't doing
it tonight, and I think Ithought about it, but I didn't
bring it up because I didn'treally want to have to do it
live on twitch.
(16:58):
But it was fun.
It was still fun.
You know, we had people show upand it was, it was.
It was a good time.
We even had my moderatoraccidentally joined the live
broadcast.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
That was great, yeah no, I think at some point that
just takes way more organizingthat neither of us, even though
we're organized people outsideof this, we are not organized
people when it comes tostreaming anymore not, not
anymore.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
And, like you know, I play a lot of.
I've been known to play alittle bit of Call of Duty here
and there, and if I were playingthat on stream, the way you
have to play it, it's not like acasual game.
You have to pay attention 100%of the time, so there isn't like
hey, how you guys doing, ohcrap, I just died, that's not
happening.
I have to pay attention to athousand percent.
(17:43):
Um, and so, yeah, have youplayed rivals?
Yet I played modern warfare 3,from season 2 on straight into
black ops 6, and I played.
I don't even know if I'veplayed anything else since I
started modern warfare 3 alittle over a year ago you gotta
try marvel rivals out I'mobsessed, try it.
(18:07):
You gotta try it.
I tried it.
I've heard that it's fun.
I've heard a lot of games arefun.
I just I just never played thembecause I have this activision
that has like a chip in my heador something.
It's like you must play, youmust play, must play more.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
You've been converted .
I'm trying to resist all themicrotransactions, but geez man.
Everyone, every Call of Dutyplayer, gets this weird
obsession with the game wherethey can't break free and it
seems like, you know, it's likeApple users.
Really, Call of Duty playersand Apple iPhone users are very
similar in the sense that oncethey're in, they're in.
They can't get out of it.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
They're completely stuck in the economy or the
ecosystem.
Yeah it, I don't know what itis.
I mean, yeah, there's a lot ofgame modes and stuff you can do,
but it's it's the same thingover and over and over again,
you know?
No, the matches are quick, theaction is fast, and maybe that's
what it is like.
You get this rush of likeadrenaline or whatever, and then
like I need more of that, soyou keep playing, you know and
how are you going?
Speaker 3 (19:07):
what else I want to?
Speaker 2 (19:08):
be better.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
So I play a lot, you know are you getting up there
your your gameplay skills?
Speaker 2 (19:13):
evolved.
I'm getting up there.
My overall kd and black upsixes is over a one now, so oh,
I'm a little bit better thanaverage now we, we'd uh take you
serious now.
That's what you're trying tosay, yeah, I told you I had the
102 kill game a couple, like amonth or so ago oh really yeah
yeah, have you tried the warzoneyet or you're still staying?
(19:36):
no, I haven't.
I played warzone once becausemy my son, who is an avid
fortnite player, battle royalewants me, wanted me to do
warzone, because you know it's asimilar concept, and I did it
and it was okay.
I think I finished like top 10or something.
But it's so different than whatI play because I play
multiplayer and the maps arerelatively small compared to war
(19:56):
zone, so it was just unfamiliarto me, you know so but it was
okay.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
So my son's actually involved.
He's gaming recently too, sweethim.
So he went from like yourfortnights and all that to
rainbow six siege oh yeah, nice.
I was like, okay, so he'sgetting right into siege.
And I'm like, okay, okay,that's pretty cool.
I I get a message from him theother day asking me about Elden
(20:24):
Ring.
So he's now progressed to aSouls player recently.
It's like okay, good luck.
Oh, like, is it free on GamePass or something?
Is that how you're playing it?
He's like you know thePlayStation.
And he's like no, no, no, Ibrought it with my money.
Okay, so I'm intrigued.
I didn't see this.
As you know, it's interestingwatching your children's gaming
(20:49):
taste evolve over time, how theychange from one game to the
next game you don't know wherethey're going with.
You know, if you'd asked me ifI saw my son playing a Souls
game, no, I did not see himplaying a Souls game anytime
soon.
He seemed to much like shooters, but now he's a souls player.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
You know you can kind of brag a little bit like if he
wants some tips for elden ring.
You know one of the best eldenring content creators youtube
pastor gains pastor gains gamesyes, you know, I did.
I did rub it into him a littlebit that I'm still a better
souls player than what he is,though yeah, yeah, I think I
(21:26):
talked about it before my, myson, my older son, he, he
watched whenever he sits downand watches me play cod or
whatever.
Yeah, it's just constant.
You should do this.
Oh, look over there, you shoulddo this.
Your aim is terrible.
Blah, blah, blah.
Yeah, it's just like man, quiet, quiet down, quiet down.
I don't need some vaccine cupgaming.
(21:46):
No, no, he wants me to playfortnight with him and I think
that's cool that he wants me to.
But I've listened to him playwith his brother and he is just
barking out orders, you know,and it's all the crap and I'm
like I don't want any part ofthat.
Speaker 3 (22:04):
No, thank you, you know.
No, this is the other thing.
I've got a box in my room herethat I haven't been able to get
away, get rid of for ages,because that's a go-to spot is
to just randomly go and sit inthe box like this right now
that's it just sit in the box,then in the box, all right.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Do you notice?
That happens when you buy them,like tying it back to the
beginning?
Yeah, christmas gifts, you buysomething fancy and they love it
.
I mean they like it.
They love the box it came in.
They do they do, they do?
What the hell, man?
I don't know, I don't know.
Makes sense, makes no sensesense.
So I mean, we had greatholidays.
I hope everybody who'slistening to this had a great
(22:43):
holiday too yeah and we'll talkto you next time yeah, you've
been listening to dad mode.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Our passion is navigating this wild journey of
parenthood and modern life, frombalancing family time to
managing your career and stillsqueezing in some gaming and
content creation.
And no matter what the womensay, they will never be able to
pry the controller out of ourcold dead hands.
(23:16):
Anyway, we hope you enjoyed theshow.
If you did, find us on Twitter,TikTok and YouTube at
DadModePodcast and we can befound on every podcast site at
DadModePodcast Y'all be cool.
See you next time.
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On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!