Moya interview of Dad

The speaker is being interviewed by his daughter. They discuss favorite colors, past pets, and current pets. They had dogs and cats when the speaker was a child, but some died or went missing. They currently have a rabbit named Luigi. The speaker agreed to do a podcast with a friend from high school. They talk about the importance of saying yes to new opportunities. Hi everybody, tonight we've got a very special interview. Actually, I'm the one who's going to be interviewed. I'm here with my daughter, Moya Sky, 10 years old, and she will be doing the interview on me this time. Over to you, Moya. Hello, my name is Moya, and I'm going to be interviewing my dad. So, we're going to start with normal questions. Questions that you normally ask a person. So, the first question. What's your favourite colour? I don't normally have a favourite, but I like red sometimes. Yeah, you normally say that when I ask you. So, red stars, people. What's your favourite pet? I have to say a hamster. Okay, now when we're already in pets, how many pets have you had and which pets? When I was a kid, we had quite a few dogs and cats. Do you know the names of them? Yeah, the first dog that I remember, his name was Samora Michelle. He went to the president of Mozambique. Then we had a chihuahua called Jumbo. Wasn't Jumbo your favourite? Yeah, he was my favourite. And after Jumbo was poisoned, we didn't have any pets for a while, and then we got a stray cat, and that stray cat had kittens. Yeah, so we had lots of kittens at our house. We used to feed them. They used to come to our backyard, and it was our chore in the evenings to give them food. How many kittens? Meh, plus five maybe, you know. That's a lot. Quite a few. And my mum reversed over one. They were in the garage when they were still very, very small. We kept them in the garage. And one day my mum missed one. They died. Yeah, it died. And we were burying it in the backyard. We had a ceremony, and there was a helicopter called Airwolf. There was a very famous TV show on at that stage. And as we were burying it, Airwolf flew over our house. So it was a pretty cool goodbye. Do you even know the existence of Airwolf? No, I don't even know if we named the kittens. They were just stray kittens. Do you have any pets? Have you had any other pets or only cats or dogs? Since the last of the cats disappeared, we didn't have any. Oh, we had a goldfish. We had two goldfish, my brother and I. Then at a stage, we were going on vacation, and my mum asked me to feed them. And I figured I've got to get them extra food while we're gone. And I put in too much food in the aquarium. Too much? Yes. So when we got back, they were swollen and lying on their bellies. They were so tired they died. That happened to us when we were going to a place. We had a frog named Mr. Frog. And we didn't really need or we didn't really get food. Also, so then we... The same day, I thought that we could take with the frog. I picked it up, and it was a goodbye. Have you had any candy talk about the pets that you have now or that was when me and my dogs were alive? No, since you guys were born, you guys have always been wanting pets. And we always thought it was wrong to have dogs because dogs deserve a lot of space. We had a lot of space. Okay, we did. But we were travelling a lot. We weren't. We were travelling a lot. Okay, either way... We... We travelled a lot. We didn't travel. No, we just travelled. And... And... Like, instead of having a pet, we could bring with the dog. You could have a swing for a few months at a time. But my friends had dogs. We could have a pet. No, I don't want to put that responsibility on other people. Because when I was a junior co-pilot, all the seniors of the squadron, when they went away, would ask me to look after their pets. Do you take care of them? Yes. What pets do you have? Cats and dogs. Whatever... What? Whatever my seniors had, I had to take care of. But one day, my one colleague... I don't know if I should mention his name. No, don't. Okay, so my one colleague asked me to look after his dog for a weekend. And I really didn't want to. But I... I was the guy that they always used to ask. I was tired of it. So, I didn't do it on purpose. But I forgot to feed the dog for the whole weekend. You forgot. I forgot. And then the Monday morning, I used to catch a bus to work. And I was like... I was sitting at the bus stop. And I was like... The dog! And I ran and I went to go feed it quickly. But that was the last time anyone ever asked me to look after a pet. I was like, I need to do that again. Okay, but talk about the pets that we have now. Okay, so since then, I've become a lot more responsible when it comes to pets. So, you and your brother Eddie wanted pets. So, we first started off with one hamster. It was a dwarf hamster, right? Oh, a dwarf hamster. And then after a while... And then he was stinky. Stinky, yeah, it was a cool pet. You tell us where we got him. You can tell us. Okay. So, it's because you don't remember. And who do you think it would be? But why? Don't ask me. Yeah, okay. So, my friend, she had two hamsters, two dwarf hamsters. And they were fighting a lot. And when they fought, I don't know what happened, but one escaped, but she got it back. So then, I loved going to them. And my mom said that we were going to go buy food for the hamsters. And I was so excited to go meet them, the hamsters again, because that was like my favorite place to be because I love those hamsters. And then when I came there, my friend was standing in the door with one of the hamsters named Slinky. And she's like, here's your hamster. And I'm like, uh. And my mom's like, said to her, she doesn't know yet. And then I looked at my mom like, I did not understand. And then she told me that it was my hamster. And I got so happy. So then I got my hamster, it was so fun. Slinky, me and my brother shared it. And yeah, that's how we got Slinky. And then we had another pig or hamster named Cuddles. And Cuddles, I went horse riding that time. And then I met a girl there. And she said that she had a lot of pets. And she said that she had a teddy bear hamster. And I told her, yeah, oh, I have also a hamster. And then she said, yeah, we don't want to have it anymore. You can get it for free. And I'm like, really? Then I asked my mom in the car. And then she asked if I could have her responsibility. And then she called my dad. And my dad said yes. But then Slinky was going to be my brother's hamster. And yeah, we named her Cuddles. And Cuddles was going to be my hamster. So she said Cuddles was cuddly. So that's why I named Cuddles Cuddles. But she wasn't cuddly at all. She bit fingers. And no, she wasn't cuddly at all. What did Cuddles like to do as well? Yeah, she liked to escape. How many times did she escape? A lot of times. And she loved peanuts also. Oh, she loved peanuts, yes. Her favorite snack. Uh-huh. Okay, now talk about our last pet. Both of them died when we were in Sweden. And they went to Africa. So now, talk about our last pet now. That's still alive. That's looking at me like, what's going on right now? Just up the road. Not that far. Maybe 100 meters or 200 meters. Not up the road. Down the road. Depends where you stand. There's a pet shop. Well, at the end of the road here, if you go. So there's a pet shop. And Moya and Eddy used to go to this pet shop quite often. But a while back, Moya started going to this pet shop more and more and more and more. And there was this one little rabbit that never got bought. And I think it got to the age of about six. Six months. Yeah, six months. And they were going to get rid of it. They didn't say how, but they just said they were going to get rid of it. Uh-huh. And then what happened? I know, it was going to get free. And I said, please, please, please, please, can we get it? And I was like, hmm. And I knew it was going to be a yes. Because when he does that, hmm, I know it is going to be a yes. So the rabbit was for free, but everything else was a few thousand, right? Yeah. Good business. Good business, that's it. So, yeah, they got us hooked. And we bought all the equipment and food and things. We bought that bunny, not hamster, and we named it Luigi. And Luigi is right now, while we're talking, jumping around because he was busy banging on the cage to get out. And he was going to disturb the whole podcast. And Luigi is very smart. Like, he can open his cage, so we have to have a chair in front of it so he doesn't open it. Because, like, he takes a seat, and then he, like, shakes it until it opens. So now he's out right now, so he doesn't disturb. Good. Okay, and I forgot to say something about Slinky, that this was very typical of him. He loved, and he really loved, belly rubs. That was his favorite thing. You know, you just push him upside down, and then he started to tickle his tummy, and he would just lie there and love it. And then he also had his small paws in the bunny's way. Like, he was a dog in a hamster body. Like, really. Okay, so now I'm more the one getting the questions. I'm supposed to finally do the questions. Ask. Ask. So, let's keep on. When were you born? When? The 27th of February, 1979. And how old are you? 45. Oh, yeah. I always forget. Okay. Next question. Why did you decide to have a podcast? So, I had never thought about ever getting a podcast, but my buddy from high school, Brandon LaGrange, I haven't actually been in that much contact with him since high school, so it's been over 20 years. And I think Brandon's been following me on – we've been following each other on LinkedIn, and he saw I was busy with a cool new project, so he reached out to me and he said he wants to – he already had another podcast. Voiceful does have another podcast called How to Lend Money to Strangers, which has been running for three years. And the link is down below. I don't know. I just said that what they don't listen to on YouTube. So, Brandon reached out and he said, what about we do a podcast in and around your project? And I was like, okay. So, this is the year of the yes. The what? The year of the yes. So, I'm saying yes to a lot of things that I wouldn't normally say yes to. Uh-huh. Wait, so I can ask that with a horse and you say yes. I'll say no. Oh. No, not right now. We'll get one. And so, Brandon started talking about this idea, and the more I thought about it, the more I thought it was a good idea. So, we did a few test podcasts, and I think today we released episode number 11. Uh-huh. And we've got quite a few recorded already, and we still have a lot more people to interview. So, yeah. We'll see how that continues. But it's going well so far. Okay. So, I was going to ask you something. Yes, what was it? What did I just ask you? About the podcast. Uh-huh, yeah, yeah. I remember now. So, about your business, how did you even get that idea? Like, how did you get exactly that idea of all the different business ideas there are? Normally, my business ideas come to me at, like, 4 o'clock in the morning when I'm going for my walks or runs. But this specific one, when we moved to Sweden, I hadn't been working since I moved here for nine months, but I was part of an organization called Science Park, and I was on Science Park's website, and I saw someone had won an award for flying drones. So, I reached out to this guy named Joachim. I said, Joachim, please come to Vanamo, and we have lunch together. So, he came, and we were talking about drones and flying and things in Sweden, and he mentioned this beetle as being a problem. And he said, whoever can solve this problem, there's a lot of upside. So, not working, this thought was echoing in my head. And I didn't know anything about this beetle, so I did a bit of research. I thought about it for three months, and I came up with an idea. I was like, Joachim, I think I've got an approach. Don't be spoiled. Let people try to copycat like some already did. So, guys, don't copycat. That won't take you anywhere in success. Oh, yeah, it will, but in a bad success. So, we don't actually worry about people copying? Yes, we do. Because we've got so many ideas. I do. Not me. But I do. Thank you for your concern. But the way that we don't worry about competition is we've got a lot of good ideas already ahead. So, when people copy our idea number two... You're spoiling all of it, Daddy. No, no, wait, wait, wait. People come up with ideas, right? So, when people copy idea number two, we release idea number three. But now they're going to know that and also come up with another one. No, I've got idea number... This is more of a spoiling podcast than an interview. I'm quite like, we're ten steps ahead already. Mm-hmm. People still have to copy number one and number two. Okay. So, we are working on so many steps. Yeah, it's going to be difficult to copy us. But if they do, we've got another version waiting to be released. Okay, next question. Why do you want to do this idea? Number one, well, 70% of Sweden is made out of forest. So, if we can solve this problem, we can solve a lot of forests. Number two, this beetle affects the whole of the Northern Hemisphere. So, countries like Germany, Prague... Oh, not Prague. It's called Czech Republic, but the capital is Prague. Czech Republic? Czech Republic, France, wherever there's pine trees in the Northern Hemisphere, there's a problem with this beetle. We talk about Canada, Alaska, Russia, Siberia, China. All these countries are affected by it. So, if we can solve the problem, there's a lot of upside. Okay, nice. Now, time for you to ask me questions, because I can't come up with more questions. Good. So, what is your full name? You told everyone in the beginning. I want you to say it. Moya Skyvanseya. And what does Moya mean? Moya means spirit and number one. I'm the winner. You're a winner. I'm the first. You're a winner. You're a winner. Okay, so tell us about when you grew up in South Africa. What was that like? It was fun. Way more fun than this place. What was fun about South Africa? There was always something to do, and all the kids were kind to each other, unlike here. Where is here? In Sweden, in my school. Okay, and what sort of wild animals did you have in your back garden and front garden? What are these? Warthogs. They are not good. They took down all the grass. When a little patch of nice grass came, they were the first ones to take it down. And in paradise, if you take pictures of them, you know that you're a tourist, because those you see every single day. Almost everywhere. And the monkeys, they're the worst of all of them. They, they took my little bonus lunchbox. Tell us about the baboons. The baboons? Oh wait, I have a, no, I need to tell another monkey story. Okay, tell us a monkey story. Me and my friend, or my neighbour, we were... What's her name? Zalmanique. So Zalmanique and I, it was COVID, so we weren't really allowed to meet each other, but, so we... So I said in my garden, she said in her garden, and then we were talking... And there was no sense between the gardens. And there was a bush behind me, and she's like, there's a monkey. I'm like, eh, it's nothing. And she's like, and when I look again, it's a monkey. And I look back, I look behind me, and there's a monkey one metre from me, crawling. Like, literally crawling. And then he looked, and it looked like on his face he was saying, uh-oh, when he saw that I spoilted him, or her. And then, all of a sudden, I screamed and ran for my life. And then he's like, oh, it's guests, and I can't be the big one here. And started chasing me. And I was eating something, that's probably why it was behind me. So I let go of the thing and ran for my life. Because you don't want to get a bite of it. Tell us about, in the garden, what fruit trees did we have there? Mango, but the baboons took them. So for all the years we lived there, we never ate one mango from our mango trees. Because they always took them. You know, this troop of baboons always come and... And they would always sit by the gasp. But they would take one... On Monday morning. Yeah, because Monday was garbage day. But the thing about the mango tree, they would only come... The whole troop of baboons would come when the mangoes were still green. They'd pick them, take one bite, and then throw them on the floor. Yes! We wanted to buy. But we never got one, one, one mango from those mango trees. It's a pity. Okay, what other pets did we... What other pets stumbled into our backyard? The shongololos. Those were interesting. But how big were they? I don't think anyone knows what a shongololo is. And they're like, what in the world is that? What is it? A shongololo. Why do you call it? Is it called a shongololo? Yeah. I thought it was something everyone called it. It's like a caterpillar. But how big is it? Both small and big. Okay, but normally what size were they? Hmm. I don't know. Like as big as your hand? Mm-hmm. And black with lots of legs. With like orange legs. Small, small ones. What would happen when you touched them? I think, what happened again? Did they peel off? No, it curled up. Oh yeah, that would happen. And the other thing I said. It was a defense mechanism. And what slow-crawling animal came into our garden? Oh, wait. I still think it's this. Oh yeah, snakes, but porcupines. Porcupines, they took, like the spikes they had, we had so many, like the jaws of them, because we always just left them behind. And in terms of tortoises? Yeah, tortoises. Yeah, we had a tractor. Tire. Tire, the back of our yard. And I only put tortoises there. It was quite hard for me to find them. I had like maybe six of them. Like all of them I've caught together is six. And I remember I named one Jojo. You're a big fan of Casey Jojo. What? Jojo Siwa. Jojo Siwa. I was when I was there. Oh, the Siwa. I even sent her a voice note. I waited for years for her to do a job. So, okay, but we didn't keep the tortoises for long, only like for a day, right? No, a day, okay. And then we'd give them food, you know, water. Yeah, we didn't do the same thing once we did it with Mr. Frog. Yeah. And what sort of snakes did we have in our backyard? Cobras. Oh, man, we had so many different types. Many cobras. Mm-hmm. Okay. Once, wait, once Salmonique, my neighbor then, she was going and she's like, boy, there's a cobra. I'm like, oh, okay. I wasn't so scared, but even though I wasn't scared, I put on sunglasses. And then someone came to pick it up. Why did you put sunglasses on? Because I could spit. Mm-hmm. Where did it end for? The eye. Mm-hmm. So it was a very good thing that you put the sunglasses on. Well, it was. I wasn't scared because it, even though I put my sunglasses on, because it was small and fat. It was chubby. Yeah, we had lots of different types of snakes. No, that was because it was, it wasn't so long after I wasn't scared. For me, I didn't look like a real snake. If you don't look like a real snake, I didn't get scared. Even though it was not the best thing to have in your garden. Maria, tell everyone the night that Daddy was doing night flying and I was coming to land at the helipad at the hospital. Oh. And then tell people what happened that night. Okay, so I got actually very scared. Okay, so I got actually very scared. Here, I wasn't the cool kid. I didn't get scared or anything. I was actually very scared. So me and my mom and my little brother were waiting for my dad to land in the helipad very close to our house. We wanted to see him land. So we were waiting outside the car. It was night. There were torches, me and my little brother, not my mom, because you could see where we shined our lights. And it was kind of light. Not super, but I could see. Not so much, but yeah. You understand, hopefully. It was dark. Yeah. So then we heard something. I thought it was a warthog. But then mom was like, can I please check? And then she just snatched the torch from me. And I was busy walking to the car. I was in the car because I was a little scared. And then all of a sudden, my mom said, run for your life. She didn't say run for your life, but she was like, get in the car, get in the car right now, get in the car. And I was like, what's happening? And my mom was like, there's a leopard outside. Yeah, she's like, there's still a leopard. I was so scared. I don't know what they were thinking, but they had their windows down. And I saw the windows. And I was so scared it would come to my feet. Yeah, I was quite very scared. And they also got questions about my horse riding and stuff. Okay, so now that we're in Sweden, there's not that many wild animals. There's maybe a cat. There's not even stray dogs here. I don't want to stray cats. I like cats. I don't want to stray cats. I like cats who are nice and fat and chubby until they're cold. Anyway, so now you're in Sweden, besides our pet, what is your most favorite animal? I think you can guess that. What is it? It's the one and only, well, there's actually a lot of them. Horses. How did you get interested in horses? I don't actually know. I don't know how I got interested in South Africa. I just got interested. Oh, Terry had a very nice… Yeah, we went to a lady, her name was Terry. We went there every now and then. And then we moved to Sweden. I didn't ride for two years. I started Christmas. So I didn't ride, but my friends were riding, or my friend was riding, or my two friends, actually. And then a lot of friends that I knew were riding. So I actually missed riding a lot. The only thing I didn't want was theory. I did not want to, because you have to do ten lessons of theory before you can start riding by your own. But eventually I thought, do you know what? I have to do something, and I will get there. So I started riding, and now I ride in Sweden. What group are you in? I am group one. That's a good program. And how many times have you fallen off the horse? Four. Four times. I don't know what it's called in English. Bay bag. No. What about the bay bag? It's called Gymkhana. Gymkhana. Gymkhana. And we were doing that. And then you don't have stirrups, the thing you put your feet in. And I'm not very good with balance. So we were trotting, and I couldn't keep my balance. And we were turning, and I just really couldn't hold it anymore. And I fell, and I landed on my tummy. And I couldn't breathe. Ouch. Okay, I want to just tell you something now. Luigi has never done this before, but he's lying on his tummy in the middle of nowhere in the carpet. He is so hilarious. He's like sun tanning. So we can talk a little bit. I'm going to just take the phone and take a picture quickly. You can't miss. That's all for today. And hopefully I will see you some other time. Bye-bye.