Turning 18: Feeling “Whelmed” - Episode 18

In this special episode, Kate sits down with her daughter Audrey on the week of her 18th birthday. Rather than feeling overwhelmed by adulthood, or underwhelmed by the milestone, Audrey describes herself as simply “whelmed.”

They talk about what turning 18 actually means today: the excitement of voting for the first time, the freedom to walk into an over-18 venue (even if you choose not to), and the strange mix of independence and expectation that comes with being a young adult in 2026.

From Sydney Swans fandom to the pressures facing Gen Z, Audrey shares how her generation sees the world, and what they wish older generations understood about growing up today.

A thoughtful, funny conversation about coming of age, changing expectations, and the moment between childhood and whatever comes next.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

You're listening to On the Moon, where we have conversations about hormones, midlife, and the moments that make us wonder, is it just me? I'm Kate. I'm a 48-year-old pharmacist and newly minted perimenopausal oversharer. This is where we talk openly about the changes we aren't prepared for. So we never have to feel alone in them again. I acknowledge the Camaragle people of the Eora Nation, the traditional custodians of the land which I am recording today. I pay my respects to elders past and present, and I extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples listening. Always was, always will be, Aboriginal land.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

Hello friends. Today I want to introduce you to someone who has absolutely changed my life and continues to change my life. She turned 18 only two days ago. Everybody say hello to my baby girl, Audrey. Hello, baby girl.

SPEAKER_02 1:07

Hello mom.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

Hi, darling.

SPEAKER_02 1:10

I'm nervous. I hear myself so clearly.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

Yeah, it's crazy. It's quite confronting, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 1:17

Yeah, I thought this, I'd be like very into hearing myself, but love the sound of my voice like this.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

You'll get used to it, don't you worry? I was telling our friends that you have only a couple of days ago turned 18. Finally, finally. I feel like it's been dragging on for forever. How do you feel about it?

SPEAKER_02 1:37

I'm underwhelmed. I'm welmed.

SPEAKER_01 1:39

You're welmed?

SPEAKER_02 1:40

I'm welmed. A birthday is always whelming or underwhelming. So not you're not I'm excited.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Yeah, no, you don't have to be excited, but you're you're also not underwhelmed. You're just whelmed.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

Yeah, I'm welmed. I mean I get to vote now.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

That's exciting.

SPEAKER_02 1:57

And I get to drink, I guess, legally.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

You're not really into that.

SPEAKER_02 2:02

Well, we'll see.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

I guess we will. We are having a party for you this weekend with your girlfriends, so I guess we will see.

SPEAKER_02 2:13

Yeah, and I'm going out. I'm I'm going out tomorrow night.

SPEAKER_01 2:16

Oh. Is it past 9 30? 9 30.

SPEAKER_02 2:18

It starts at 9 30. What? I get free entry because it's my birthday. Where are you going? The cliff dive.

SPEAKER_01 2:25

Oh, that's right.

SPEAKER_02 2:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

So you're going to the cliff dive?

SPEAKER_02 2:27

Yes, I'm going to the cliff dive.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

And it starts at 9 30, which for me is bedtime. Which for you is bedtime.

SPEAKER_02 2:33

Yeah. Well, I don't know. I think I'll have fun. I'm going with yeah, a couple of my friends, but Sophia and Ally are like practiced clubbers. That's right, but they stay out till like four when they go clubbing, but But you've got endurance. Not for something I don't enjoy. Not for something I I don't have to enjoy, you know.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

No, that's true.

SPEAKER_02 2:57

Well, we have to endure it. I think I think if we don't like this club, then we might just go to a pub or something.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

Hmm.

SPEAKER_02 3:04

And you can always go to a different club, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 3:07

You can always come home. Welcome to the adult world of clubbing, which which I must say, when I was your age, I didn't love. So my sister was so good at clubbing, and she'd go out and she'd start at 10 or 11 and she'd come home at five in the morning, and I'd think, wow, she's got such club endurance. I'd go out to a club and I'd think, Yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 3:31

That's actually so Anyclazed by her. Isn't it though? I knew she'd be good at club. She'd be good at clubbing. Yeah, she's so fun. She likes to have fun and she is the fun. No, but she okay. She like will always, well not always, but most of the time, can just like bring energy.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

She's got good energy.

SPEAKER_02 3:51

Yeah. And it brings everyone else energy as well. Yeah, but and she's like supportive.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

Oh gosh, isn't she amazing? Don't we love her the most?

SPEAKER_02 4:01

I hope she's listening.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

I just was always thinking, gosh, I just don't know that anything good happens after midnight and I could be at home in my bed.

SPEAKER_02 4:10

Nothing good happens after 2 a.m.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

Nothing good happens after 10 30. You know where that's from. No, I don't.

SPEAKER_02 4:15

How I met your mother.

SPEAKER_01 4:17

Nothing good happens after 2 a.m.

SPEAKER_02 4:18

Nothing good happens after 2 a.m.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

It's actually just facts. Anyway, so you can come home. You know what? You have a fun time. You have a fun time. I'll be I'll be worried, sick in my bed, waiting for you to come home.

SPEAKER_02 4:32

You're lying. You'll be asleep.

SPEAKER_01 4:34

Obviously.

SPEAKER_02 4:35

Yeah, you'll be getting ready for the gym. You can do um You'll be getting ready for the gym and I'll walk in.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

You yeah, and get ready. Yeah, that's right. You can do um proof of life checks with your brother.

SPEAKER_02 4:46

With OB.

SPEAKER_01 4:47

Okay. That's good. That makes me feel reckoning he'll pick me up. I don't think so.

SPEAKER_02 4:52

Well maybe I don't know. You know, when Sophia went clubbing for her birthday, her dad picked her up at 4 a.m.

SPEAKER_01 4:58

He's the best.

SPEAKER_02 4:58

In the city.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 5:00

In the city. Yeah. Her dad picked her up.

SPEAKER_01 5:04

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 5:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:05

Do you think do you think her dad will pick you up?

SPEAKER_02 5:09

Doubt it.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

What time do the trains stop?

SPEAKER_02 5:13

But the trains stop between 12 and 4.

SPEAKER_01 5:16

12?

SPEAKER_02 5:17

12am and yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:18

Does the metro stop?

SPEAKER_02 5:20

I don't know. But I remember like last night when I got yeah, when I got home, they were packing up.

SPEAKER_01 5:27

They were wrapping up.

SPEAKER_02 5:28

Yeah. I think especially like at ch at Wollstonecraft, because it's not like a main station.

SPEAKER_01 5:35

It's also very noisy. So when you take a train through Wollstonecraft, because it's on the bend, it makes that horrible noise. So no wonder they stop the trains.

SPEAKER_02 5:42

It stops between 1 and 5, really. 12 40 and 4 40 today.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 5:50

And then the metro stops. Well the metro runs super regularly. Metro stops between 12.30 and 3.50.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

I wonder why the metro stops because it's way, way underground and nobody drives it.

SPEAKER_02 6:04

Yeah, but people work there.

SPEAKER_01 6:06

Oh, that's true. Do they?

SPEAKER_02 6:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:09

I don't think I've ever seen anybody working there.

SPEAKER_02 6:11

Yeah, they're always there. They're at the gate. They're down on the platform.

SPEAKER_01 6:15

Okay, alright. People can sleep. Fine, that's fine.

SPEAKER_02 6:18

Only for four hours.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

No, they can only sleep for four hours. We'll have to make sure you've got an Uber out or something. I don't know. You know what? We'll we'll talk it through.

SPEAKER_02 6:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:28

I think we had such a nice time last weekend with our family all gathered to celebrate you. That was good fun. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, good chat. So you told me that you were excited to vote. Yes. Is there anything else? I mean, I know you're not super enthusiastic about drinking, so you're like moderately.

SPEAKER_02 6:57

Well, I'm excited to be let into places where you have to be 18. Like the roundhouse, often you have to be 18, like to go into the bar area. And or I just like the option to go.

SPEAKER_01 7:09

Yes, that's that's right.

SPEAKER_02 7:10

Like if my friends are like, yeah, we're going out this Friday, I'd like to be able to say, I'd love to, but I don't want to. Yes, instead of like I can, but I'm choosing not to.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

Yes, yes, instead of I'm just not welcome because I'm only a baby.

SPEAKER_02 7:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:26

So is there anything you're not excited about?

SPEAKER_02 7:29

Well you're gonna make you pay rent, so no. I am not. I am not. I don't know, not immediately.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

No.

SPEAKER_02 7:37

No.

SPEAKER_01 7:38

Um not much has changed really.

SPEAKER_02 7:41

Yeah. Maybe in like four years I'll be less excited and more excited.

SPEAKER_01 7:47

You were reasonably excited about going to university or no? You miss school?

SPEAKER_02 7:52

I miss school.

SPEAKER_01 7:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:54

University's like less structured and more work.

SPEAKER_01 8:01

Really? More work?

SPEAKER_02 8:02

How can I be more working 12? Maybe it's not more work, maybe I'm just I didn't think I'd have to put in this much effort, but just because I do such a reading heavy s subject, there's always like two op there's two mandatory readings for all my classes, which are like 40 pages each. Then there's like five optional, and it's optional, but it's like it adds a lot. So and I just want to do well this year.

SPEAKER_01 8:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:29

Well, I want to do well every year, but like I wanna have the option to transfer into law.

SPEAKER_01 8:34

Yes, that's right. Yeah, no, good. And you've started off strongly with your first assessment coming in at an 87.

SPEAKER_02 8:42

Yeah, and I got 100% on my quiz.

SPEAKER_01 8:44

Oh, congratulations. So tell me what your assessment was on.

SPEAKER_02 8:49

My assessment, it was about basically RCT10 is a course on politics and international relations, and it's like society and culture, so every week is a new topic. So it's like race, gender, class, individuals. Last week it was what do international organizations do? Not much is the answer. Like the UN and stuff like that. They do. Can I swear?

SPEAKER_01 9:14

You you can. You can you can swear.

SPEAKER_02 9:17

They do fuck all. Yeah. They've got almost no power anyway. I did gender to pick a question, and my question was using a gendered analysis, why did using a gendered interpretation, why did Donald Trump invade Venezuela? And this this the first there's two assessments, like two-part of. So the first assessment was based, it was like AI-based, so you had to sort of agree or disagree to what the AI had produced when she put the question in. So she put the question into maybe 30 AIs, and they all responded with everything. They all responded to the question. Um, and you had to say, why or why not the AI was helpful? What did it miss? And and yeah, it was like from each reading, there were five readings, and they were all that you had to pick a quote from the AI and a quote from the academic reading, and then just like analyze it. That sounds like a pretty good idea. And then the the part two is you just write an essay on it, I think. Yeah, I guess it I think it was more to prove that AI is like a tool and not a starting point, and it can help it can help as a tool. But and it can build ideas, but it's not it's not what writes your analysis.

SPEAKER_01 10:40

So I was going to ask you about your love of the Sydney swans. Oh my god, okay. Okay. Well, when I think about you, when I'm when I was writing your birthday card and when I think back about the past 18 years we've had together, I guess one of the things that sticks out, I mean, there's there's lots of things that stick out about you, obviously, but one of the things that I love, I love, that you love is that you're so passionate about the Sydney Swans. And it's just so cute because obviously your dad is so passionate about the Sydney Swans, and watching the two of you together, and including your brother, I mean he's he's is he's a lover. Yeah, well but I don't think he's quite a lover on the same level as you and Dad, and you know you know all the players. Yeah, but you know all the players on all the teams.

SPEAKER_02 11:38

Yeah, I read about them.

SPEAKER_01 11:40

You read about them. I mean, you're a fan, man.

SPEAKER_02 11:43

Yeah, I send dad articles. I just I remember I got into it because it was something Obi didn't like. And why did that mean you Obi didn't like it, and I thought I could well I'm very competitive and I like to win. And Dad really liked it, so it was something Dad and I could have. Yeah. Because Obi and Dad went down to Melbourne that one year. And I was like It was it was uh I raise you. I raise you his lifelong love.

SPEAKER_01 12:10

And fun. I don't know that when they went down they necessarily had a I think they had a nice time, but I don't think they had like a full throated AFL experience.

SPEAKER_02 12:20

Yeah, well we went down, that was my first time at the MCG. We watched a game. Yeah that weekend. That was so much fun. Yeah. In like year eight, I remember. I got a ticket for my birthday.

SPEAKER_01 12:29

Yeah, he's a good dad.

SPEAKER_02 12:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:31

Um, but watching the two of you either at a game. I remember, remember we went to and we were playing Collingwood. It was the was it the minor w we were playing Collingwood, I think.

SPEAKER_02 12:44

Is this when we were with Janelle?

SPEAKER_01 12:45

Yes, we were with Janelle and we were right at the back and there was one minute to go.

SPEAKER_02 12:49

Was that Collingwood?

SPEAKER_01 12:50

I can't remember. I feel like it was.

SPEAKER_02 12:52

I also think it was, yeah, it was the semifinal, like it was the game before the grand final, wasn't it? Wasn't it no, it was the quarterfinal. It was the game before the semifinal to get into semifinals. Um and it it was also because we did have a match like spare because we were number one. You know, first four on the ladder get basically a backup game in case you lose.

SPEAKER_01 13:19

So but it meant we got the next week off.

SPEAKER_02 13:22

Yeah, that was a stressful point. It was so stressful. They won by like what two points or three points. Yeah, they got a goal. With a minute to go, wasn't it? You videoed us. Yeah. I had to video. I literally had the AFL app because the clock on the on the um that they show at the SCG is like not Well it stops.

SPEAKER_01 13:42

Or it doesn't stop. No, it doesn't stop. It doesn't stop.

SPEAKER_02 13:44

So it's at like what 30 minutes. I'm like, okay, well that could be 10 minutes or one minute to go. Yeah. And we literally had one minute to go and I was watching a countdown.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

But you were watching a countdown with your back to the game and your head to the back of the SCG.

SPEAKER_02 13:59

Yeah, because we were at the very back as well. Those are good seats. That yeah, look at it. We were sitting behind like a row of lovely older women.

SPEAKER_01 14:08

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 14:08

And I remember they like shook my hand at the end because I was so stressed.

SPEAKER_01 14:11

The vibe was good.

SPEAKER_02 14:12

That's so true.

SPEAKER_01 14:13

The vibe was certainly better.

SPEAKER_02 14:14

It's always good when you're in a when you're with your team.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

That's true.

SPEAKER_02 14:18

When you're with supporters of your team.

SPEAKER_01 14:20

Certainly less good when we then went down to the MCG to watch the grand final and we were seated with Brisbane fans. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:27

The MCGs were so overrated. I mean, they were nice.

SPEAKER_01 14:31

They were fine when I was. I mean, they weren't fine because they were winning. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 14:35

You're just losing so bad, and it's it's just hot and it's Melbourne.

SPEAKER_01 14:39

And it's so hot.

SPEAKER_02 14:41

Yeah, it was really sunny. I remember when we watched them lose to Joelong really badly the first time. Yeah, that was hot. We were sitting in the sun.

SPEAKER_01 14:47

In the sun. Like in our eyeballs.

SPEAKER_02 14:49

I was wearing my blue striped shirt and I basically switched teams. Dad and Gab stayed for that one. Dad, dad didn't stay for the Roseman one. No.

SPEAKER_01 14:58

It's actually so disappointing, but so I mean I've said it out loud, and I'm saying it out loud to the whole world. I'm not going to the SCG again to watch a grand final.

SPEAKER_02 15:06

MCG?

SPEAKER_01 15:07

MCG? What did I say? SCG.

SPEAKER_02 15:09

You're lying.

SPEAKER_01 15:10

Well, I'm not going to the SCG, so I'm actually not lying. I'm telling I'm telling the truth. I'm not going to the SCG. I'm not going to the MCG.

SPEAKER_02 15:15

I wish they played it wherever the minor premieres won. There's no need. There's actually no need. I understand it's kind of like a cultural thing, but the NFL, they go wherever the I don't know if they have minor premieres. I don't really know how that stupid sport works, but no, you will go down to the MCG. Oh gosh. You will because because dad wants to go. I know. And you love dad. That's true. Can we we might not even get I don't know how we keep on ourselves? Bad luck in the ballot.

SPEAKER_01 15:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:45

Well, except always sitting in the worst place.

SPEAKER_01 15:48

Except that we are all that we have good luck in the ballot insofar as that we get a ticket. Yeah. But I don't know how we ended up in the Brisbane supporters group. That was grim. That was grim. That was grim from the fine thing.

SPEAKER_02 15:59

I think Katie Perry. Katie Perry performed. That was fun. Yeah. I like her.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

Yeah, fine.

SPEAKER_02 16:05

Like, fine. One of the bubbles popped.

SPEAKER_01 16:07

I think Katie um one of the bubbles popped. I think Kylie Minogue is performing. Now I I can that's something I can get behind.

SPEAKER_02 16:15

Sing me a Kylie Minogue song.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

Oh, can I get you out of my head?

SPEAKER_02 16:19

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01 16:20

Or um Better the W No. Better the W No. Oh, she's got songs.

SPEAKER_02 16:25

That sounds like a spice call song.

SPEAKER_01 16:26

No, she's got lots of bangers. No. And also she's Australian. Why have we got Katy Perry playing at the final of an Australian sport?

SPEAKER_02 16:33

Because that's so fun. It means we're bringing international recognized that's not a word recognition to the sport. No, it means I think that's good.

SPEAKER_01 16:41

No, I disagree. I think we should be showcasing our local Australian talent.

SPEAKER_02 16:44

We had Robbie Williams that one year.

SPEAKER_01 16:46

No, I didn't agree with that either.

SPEAKER_02 16:47

Really?

SPEAKER_01 16:48

No, not really.

SPEAKER_02 16:49

He was in like a very bright green suit.

SPEAKER_01 16:51

He was, and he looked good. He looked good. And he sounded good.

SPEAKER_02 16:55

Yeah, I guess. But he was performing with other people as well.

SPEAKER_01 16:58

He performed with Delta Goodrum, didn't he?

SPEAKER_02 17:00

I really don't remember.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

I'm pretty sure. I'm pretty sure he performed that the um doing it for the kids. He performed it with Delta Goodrum.

SPEAKER_02 17:11

Sure. I don't know any of those words you just said.

SPEAKER_01 17:14

You know the song.

SPEAKER_02 17:15

No. I know Delta Goodrum. Doing it for the kids. No more. I don't know. No. You can't just say yes and expect food.

SPEAKER_01 17:24

Yes, you do. Yes, you do. You do know it. I don't. Hey, um, how excited are you about um training for dad's 160 kilometer run?

SPEAKER_02 17:34

Well, I'm excited to be able to run at the end and support him. Excited to train? Not so much because I haven't run in a very long time. But I think it will be better than last year when we went on like five runs before the half mark. Yeah. That was I did have fun. Like looking back on it, I had fun. I liked running with you, and it was really it was really nice when we saw Anastasia.

SPEAKER_01 18:02

Yeah, so that was my highlight.

SPEAKER_02 18:04

And then and then Sophia spooned me.

SPEAKER_01 18:06

I know, that was beautiful. That was really nice. That was no run runs are always good when you get to the finish.

SPEAKER_02 18:13

They gave me such a bad metal.

SPEAKER_01 18:15

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 18:15

That's the only thing. I was like, I understand you're trying to be cool, but I'm not wearing that as a necklace. I want it to be big and med metal-shaped, circular.

SPEAKER_01 18:25

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 18:26

They were trying to be cool.

SPEAKER_01 18:27

Yeah, don't be cool, Nike.

SPEAKER_02 18:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:29

Never be cool. I just said we're talking about the Nike after dark. Was it?

SPEAKER_02 18:34

Women's only.

SPEAKER_01 18:35

Women run the night.

SPEAKER_02 18:36

Women only, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:37

But except that there were a couple of guys.

SPEAKER_02 18:39

Yeah, there were like three random guys. I don't know whatever. How that happened.

SPEAKER_01 18:44

No. But I wouldn't have said the vibe. I don't know. Maybe it's because I'm a trail runner and now I'm gonna be snobby, but because I'm a trail runner, trail running is so much less serious, I suppose, than road running. I expected the vibe to be upbeat and like a party since it's meant to be, you know, Nike upbeat. There was a rave. There was a rave, but everybody else was just in their Nike.

SPEAKER_02 19:09

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We were the only ones in tutus. Yeah, no one else, like, no, yeah. No one running brought the vibe.

SPEAKER_01 19:16

No, no one running brought the vibe.

SPEAKER_02 19:17

Some people were like matching, yeah. Well, yeah. It's nice that they gave us like a bra. And you could also get complimentary bra fitting if you wished. That's true. That was good.

SPEAKER_01 19:27

That was good.

SPEAKER_02 19:28

Um it's a good bra as well. I wear it.

SPEAKER_01 19:31

I have three of them. I well, I've only got the one, but I do I do like it. I do wear it frequently when we go to the gym. Um I just, yeah, I think when we're training for our uh support roles for the 160 kilometre run, we will need to just make sure we get it up and down a whole bunch of stairs. Because I think in your 18 kilometres you've got I've got 21, Mum. 21 kilometres? Yeah. Oh, okay, 21 kilometres, and you'll I think it was.

SPEAKER_02 20:03

I'm thinking 18, because that's the best of a run.

SPEAKER_01 20:05

Well run 21, but uh, 21. You'll have I think over a thousand metres of elevation.

SPEAKER_02 20:12

What the fuck?

SPEAKER_01 20:13

Yeah, that's that's a lot.

SPEAKER_02 20:16

That's a lot.

SPEAKER_01 20:17

That's a lot. But you you can feel sorry for me because over over my 34 kilometres, we've got 2,000 metres of elevation.

SPEAKER_02 20:22

Oh, so it's like not better. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 20:25

No, no, no, it's not better.

SPEAKER_02 20:26

I don't know. I mean, maybe we feel worse for dad. Mate Who has to do all of it?

SPEAKER_01 20:33

I like what he was saying. At the end, he'll be pacing you. You'll just be the two of you will be in your own world something.

SPEAKER_02 20:40

That's only I I actually think I will be upbeat.

SPEAKER_01 20:45

You'll be upbeat.

SPEAKER_02 20:46

Hopefully.

SPEAKER_01 20:47

Yeah, definitely. Until he plays you Tom Bombardil.

SPEAKER_02 20:50

We're not playing that shit, we're going full Hamilton.

SPEAKER_01 20:53

Ah, nice.

SPEAKER_02 20:54

We can do Hamilton the first half three times. Yes. And we end on wait for it.

SPEAKER_01 20:59

It's good. Maybe I can get them to play that as you cross the finish line.

SPEAKER_02 21:05

Um Yeah, that's fun because I get to cross do I don't think I crossed the finish line.

SPEAKER_01 21:10

Yeah, yeah, you will. In fact, we all will. I'm sure. I'm sure what will happen is you you you'll get within 20 metres of the finish line, and Obi and I can hook in at that point, and all three of us can cross the line. No. I don't think I'll be pretending like I've run anything by that stage, are we? I'll be hobbling along.

SPEAKER_02 21:30

No, you're only running 30 kilometres.

SPEAKER_01 21:32

So I think I think you need to prepare yourself for the fact that 21 kilometres is gonna take you six hours.

SPEAKER_02 21:37

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 21:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:39

Because dad is slow or because there's so much elevation?

SPEAKER_01 21:42

Both. So because he'll be slow, there's a lot of elevation, and also my memory of the Grampians Peak trip. It's rocky as rocky as.

SPEAKER_02 21:52

You gotta be careful.

SPEAKER_01 21:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:54

And Dad's not known for picking up his feet.

SPEAKER_01 21:58

No, he's not. And he's he's known for

SPEAKER_02 22:00

And he's free free bleeding quite a quite a bit. He's a free bleeder.

SPEAKER_01 22:05

He will have to get this man some blood thinners. He's on his blood thinners.

SPEAKER_02 22:10

Oh goodness.

SPEAKER_01 22:11

Why would you do it to yourself? Anyway, it sounds better than my friend Fiona who's going out to paddle for 20 hours in her adventure race.

SPEAKER_02 22:18

I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 22:19

Yeah, I do.

SPEAKER_02 22:20

Uh no. Because how long will Dad be running for?

SPEAKER_01 22:24

36 hours.

SPEAKER_02 22:26

Yeah, so what?

SPEAKER_01 22:27

But she's paddling 20 hours out of a seven-day event.

SPEAKER_02 22:31

Whatever, like I have no sympathy. She chose to do it to herself.

SPEAKER_01 22:35

Yeah, well so did he.

SPEAKER_02 22:36

Don't care.

SPEAKER_01 22:37

He's he's chosen to do it too. Um I does he have any friends doing it? Uh so his boyfriends that he usually does it with.

SPEAKER_02 22:48

Gwen?

SPEAKER_01 22:49

No, no, no.

SPEAKER_02 22:50

His Dave.

SPEAKER_01 22:51

No. Rhett. Yes. Rhett and Johnny B.

SPEAKER_02 22:55

Oh my god, I love Johnny B.

SPEAKER_01 22:56

Rhett and Johnny B.

SPEAKER_02 22:58

I met him in Melbourne when we were down with Taylor Swurf.

SPEAKER_01 23:00

That's right. He's a good guy.

SPEAKER_02 23:02

So really funny.

SPEAKER_01 23:03

They have subbed him out of their team and subbed in a girl. Because he's now doing it, his his own event.

SPEAKER_02 23:10

Oh yeah, they're doing it all together.

SPEAKER_01 23:12

They go down and they run it as a relay over the four days as a staged relay event. So they'll all be there, but they've subbed him out and they've subbed in um I've forgotten her name. I met her when we were in the Northern Territory, but she is an amazing runner. So she is she'd be thinking a little bit younger than I am, but she's an actual athlete. So when we did the um Lara Pinter Trail, she'd be winning the stages. So they've replaced him with her.

SPEAKER_02 23:40

So do they get rest?

SPEAKER_01 23:42

They get rest. And Fiona and um Liz are coming down to do the whole event over a f over the four-day stage event as well. So everyone gets rest but him, but Davos. Anyway, it's gonna be fun.

SPEAKER_02 23:56

Why didn't he choose this path?

SPEAKER_01 23:58

I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 24:00

You You definitely supported him to do it though.

SPEAKER_01 24:02

I'm an enabler. Hey, um, what do you reckon about my transitioning from being a regular hospital pharmacist into being a social media influencer?

SPEAKER_02 24:15

You really have to ask like a smaller question within that that that subtitle, because that's like a lot.

SPEAKER_01 24:20

Yeah, it's well no, I suppose I was so I left my job in 2023. 2023. So now I was 26.

SPEAKER_02 24:27

I remember that day, it was like Friday or something.

SPEAKER_01 24:30

It was Friday, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:31

Yeah, and I was really worried you were gonna be really upset. You were a little bit upset.

SPEAKER_01 24:36

I was reasonably upset.

SPEAKER_02 24:38

They didn't treat you very nicely.

SPEAKER_01 24:39

No, I mean I was I was upset.

SPEAKER_02 24:41

I was close to going over there, mum.

SPEAKER_01 24:43

Thanks, baby. But I I guess I was thinking about in terms of transitions you've gone from school to university, that's a transition.

SPEAKER_02 24:54

I think your transition is bigger than mine. It's I've gone from learning to learning and just in different environments.

SPEAKER_01 25:01

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 25:02

That's like the same thing in a different font.

SPEAKER_01 25:06

And I guess uh my transition is maybe less uh predicted or less um socially accepted, would you say?

SPEAKER_02 25:20

I feel like there are a lot of people on social media though.

SPEAKER_01 25:24

Lots of people, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:25

Yeah, yeah. You don't think it's a socially accepted thing. I guess I meant um like in your circle, because you run with people that are highly educated.

SPEAKER_01 25:35

Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_02 25:37

In your little bubble where they all practice very high forms of medicine. Yes, law. And that's it, and that's it actually. That's it.

SPEAKER_01 25:49

Yeah, we need to break out, don't we?

SPEAKER_02 25:52

Yeah, I wish I wish you had friends who did different things.

SPEAKER_01 25:56

I've got my friend Annie, McCubbin.

SPEAKER_02 25:58

Yeah, but I wish you had that friend when I was in your 11 or 12.

SPEAKER_01 26:03

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 26:04

Well of course. Because growing up, I genuinely thought I'd become a doctor, not because I was interested, just because That's just what you every adult in my life was a doctor. And I didn't want to be a teacher like grandma or Graham. I sidetracked, sorry.

SPEAKER_01 26:17

No, that's good. That's good. I've um I mean I'm proud of you.

SPEAKER_02 26:22

Thanks, baby. You s you became very open-minded.

SPEAKER_01 26:26

I am trying.

SPEAKER_02 26:27

You are very open-minded, I think, sometimes. Sometimes like I don't know. I think you are quite reserved when you were just like a pharmacist.

SPEAKER_01 26:36

I think it's easy to be, um, I think it's easy for your world to small in. That's definitely a word. It's easy for your world to become small and narrow if you do the same job in the same industry with the same people for 25 years. So that is definitely a trap of um Yeah, you didn't travel or anything in uni.

SPEAKER_02 27:07

You were very straight-laced. I am you didn't club, you went to sleep at 9.30. I'm very straight-laced. You had like three boyfriends.

SPEAKER_01 27:14

I only like to watch the ABC and listen to the ABC.

SPEAKER_02 27:17

It's not a bad thing.

SPEAKER_01 27:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:20

Oh, I think you have to you do have to work at beginning your you started running a lot. I started doing that, and then and then you became a spin instructor. That was very fun. That was nice because you made me go.

SPEAKER_01 27:34

That was very fun, and I did and I did that on purpose because it was something that was completely without my comfort zone. So I had been in my comfort zone for such a long time in my professional job, and I was finding it, I guess, reasonably boring by the end. And it is good to put yourself into positions where you're not so comfortable because that way you can start to appreciate how other people feel when they're also not in their comfort zone. It gives you empathy, opens your mind, new experiences, blah blah blah. I mean, I think I thought becoming a spin instructor, I mean I suppose I thought, oh, it's something that I can legitimately do, so I have the fitness to be able to do it, and I have the um opportunity to be able to do it. So why not and you on a motorcycle? That's true, and I got my motorcycle licence.

SPEAKER_02 28:26

Yeah, you had a scooter.

SPEAKER_01 28:27

I had a scooter, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:29

Similar.

SPEAKER_01 28:30

Yeah, and again, I just wanted to learn these things so that A, I'd had the experience, but B, I'd learnt them before I felt like I was too old.

SPEAKER_02 28:37

And you got a tattoo. Oh yeah, but I had my. Oh my god, you so rebel. Midlife midlife crisis? No, midlife rebellion.

SPEAKER_01 28:45

Midlife reinvention, I think we're calling it. I actually had my first tattoo. My first tattoo when I was 21. You and your brother were certainly little fat chubbers with no hair and massive foreheads. That's one of my favourite photos of you as a mighty bean.

SPEAKER_02 29:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:06

It's very rectangular.

SPEAKER_02 29:08

I know, I don't understand.

SPEAKER_01 29:12

I wonder how I can maybe I'll make that the um cover of the podcast episode so that people have a baby photo. Yeah. Well, if you was a mighty bean so that people can see you. If you could give one piece of advice to your mum, or really anyone my age, about understanding your generation, what would it be?

SPEAKER_02 29:36

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 29:38

You do a very good job educating your grandma.

SPEAKER_02 29:40

I try my best to be nice about it as well. Yeah. I mean, she's also not like an idiot. So she's very understanding and actually knows a lot. I would say she's like probably the easiest person to educate.

SPEAKER_01 29:54

I think Yeah, because she wants to learn.

SPEAKER_02 29:55

Yeah, but also people that age, um, no, that's a lie. Yeah. People who want to learn, people who are willing to accommodate knowledge.

SPEAKER_01 30:03

And be open to new ideas and learn about other people.

SPEAKER_02 30:07

I'd probably say what do you mean by understand?

SPEAKER_01 30:11

I wonder.

SPEAKER_02 30:11

But what are you having trouble understanding?

SPEAKER_01 30:14

Um, I don't know. Do I know? You hear people talking about this generation. This generation of kids don't know how to hold down a job or they don't know what it is to work. Don't you don't know, blah blah blah, and you you can't read because you only get your information from the socials or whatever. And I guess my experience of teenagers and young adults is that I think the two of you are lovely company, you're beautifully thoughtful people, you're lovely to each other, you're lovely family members. You in particular are very well read. I know Obi is pretending to be well read now that he's got his crush on his new girlfriend.

SPEAKER_02 31:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:08

I know he's pretending like he's well read. Um but no, he's done his things. So I guess I was just wondering if do I have it wrong as the is the rest of your generation not like this?

SPEAKER_02 31:17

Well, there was that thing where people were scoring lower in the nap line. So maybe our reading is Deeproving. Well, I don't know. I mean our attention spans are. What I would say that we are more functioning than older generations. 100%. I would say about our age. Absolutely. Like these old people say you don't know how to do anything, but I know how to do way more than you do. I know more about the world, which obviously is also due to the internet, but yeah, I rebuke that.

SPEAKER_01 31:49

Yes, I agree.

SPEAKER_02 31:50

I was going to school. Like it's just it's so hard to s it's so hard to say this now because society has changed so fundamentally that you actually cannot compare anything. You cannot compare anything because you were well not you, but like I'm talking to maybe an 80-year-old woman right now. I went to high school, I went to university, I'm getting a degree, did you? No. But that's not because you were maybe less hardworking than me, that's because society told you you shouldn't or you couldn't. So how are you comparing the job market now, which was all men when you were there, and which is now like in healthcare, it's more than 50% women.

SPEAKER_01 32:31

I think it's more than more than that.

SPEAKER_02 32:33

Yeah, well, that's why I say more than 50%. But like you can't you can't compare it because it's so different, and it's just it honestly makes you sound uneducated and stupid when you say stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 32:46

Because Well, it's certainly like to say, you know, we owned our own house by the time we were whatever.

SPEAKER_02 32:52

Yeah, and whose problem is it that I can't own my own house?

SPEAKER_01 32:55

Well, it's your problem.

SPEAKER_02 32:56

But whose fault is it?

SPEAKER_01 32:58

I think that there's it it that's not such a matter of opinion because there's actual numbers and data around the fact that housing prices have increased beyond inflation. So just because I mean maybe 70 years ago buying a house for$30,000 is equ you know, it was a lot of money back then. Whereas now it's not even the beginnings of the thought of possibly even potentially having a deposit for your house. But back then it might have represented a large chunk of your income in the same way that a deposit now also represents a large chunk of your income. But there is there is actual numbers that says that it's harder now. And also the opportunity to buy is a lot less, I think, as well, because people are holding onto their houses for longer. Because the the uh baby boomers are aging, they're outliving themselves.

SPEAKER_02 33:51

They say like our generation is more uneducated. Do they say that? Yeah, yeah. I think it's probably a lot to do with how we speak, we're less formal, but again, it's just like society changes. Are you comparing yourself to a 20th century woman? No, because you're not an idiot. So in the same way that I'm not com that you're not comparing yourself to someone who lived in the 1840s, I'm not comparing myself to someone who lived in the 1940s.

SPEAKER_01 34:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:19

Like it's not comparable at all. And I would say it's more comparable between 1840 and 1940. There was less, well, obviously the Industrial Revolution, but there was less development socially.

SPEAKER_01 34:33

I think that your generation is expected to know a lot.

SPEAKER_02 34:36

But we have access to more like it's hard to judge.

SPEAKER_01 34:39

Yeah, it is. It is. I think you're doing a good job. You are doing a good job, little one.

SPEAKER_02 34:44

Thank you, mommy.

SPEAKER_01 34:45

Thanks for chatting on my potty. Are we done? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 34:49

We can talk again though, another time.

SPEAKER_02 34:51

That was fun. I definitely got used to the sound of my voice.

SPEAKER_01 34:54

See, but after a after a couple of episodes, you'll be my regular guest. Thanks for the chat.

SPEAKER_02 35:00

You're welcome.

SPEAKER_01 35:01

Good chat.

SPEAKER_02 35:02

Bye, friends.

SPEAKER_01 35:03

Hi, friends. Which we've got to there's gotta be a dialogue, you've got to say something.

SPEAKER_02 35:10

But you have to open.

SPEAKER_01 35:11

Oh, I'm going to open, but for the moment we're just chatting. I'm going to open. Okay, I'll open.

SPEAKER_02 35:15

Okay, maybe lead the conversation then.

SPEAKER_01 35:17

Oh, I thought we were talking about ASMR.

SPEAKER_02 35:19

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:20

And scrunching the squishies.

unknown 35:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:23

Crunchy.

SPEAKER_02 35:24

Squishies? No, because they cover squishies with like plaster or nail polish or I don't know what a squishy is.

SPEAKER_01 35:39

Oh, that's very nice.

SPEAKER_02 35:40

Oh look how media I can see.