The James Donald Forbes McCann Catamaran Plan - sukhbir

Episode Date: February 26, 2024

Join the sailing club to contribute financially to James Donald Forbes McCann's journey to boat ownership: https://www.patreon.com/jdfmccannBuy one of the several books written by James Donald Forbes McCann: https://www.jdfmccann.com/books Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thank you for listening to this episode of the James Donald Forbes McCann Catamaran Plan. If you'd like to listen to bonus episodes, go sign up to the Patreon. That's patreon.clom. Clom? Ah, we f***ed it. Anyway, look, you'll find a way. Catamaran Home! If you're looking for flexible workouts, Peloton's got you covered.

Summer runs or playoff season meditations, whatever your vibe, Peloton has thousands of classes built to push you. We know how life goes. New father, new routines, new locations. What matters is that you have something there to adapt with you, whether you need a challenge or rest. And Peloton has everything you need, whenever you need it. Find your push.

Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca. Breaking news happens anywhere, anytime. Police have warned the protesters repeatedly, get back. CBC News brings the story to you as it happens. Hundreds of wildfires are burning. Be the first to know what's going on and what that means for you and for Canadians. This situation has changed very quickly. Helping make sense of the world when it matters most. Stay in the know.

CBC News. Hello and welcome to this episode of the James Donald Forbes McCann Catamaran. This is your host, James Donald Forbes McCann, coming to you live from the Big Apple, Manhattan, New York City, where the sort of networking holiday continues. And this is the first moment since the last podcast that I have had any opportunity to sit and talk into a microphone. Here I am in the city that never sleeps. The man who sleeps seldom. It's great.

It's been good. We're in a very, very small apartment. My three children, my wife and my dad. It has about the same square footage. What? It's a square meterage back in the old country of one of the rooms in the last house. So it's cramped. And the people who run. I was going to cancel it.

I was going to cut the trip short. I was going to put the family in the car, which I hope is still where I parked it in Queens. People told me it would be fine in that sort of location and it remains to be seen if that's... Oh, I hope the car's still there. Anyway, I was just going to say, right, this is too small.

We're having a bad time. We're going to drive away. I called the people who ran the Airbnb and they said, well, would you like to go to a bigger, fancier Manhattan apartment instead? And I said, yeah, I mean, sure. But money is a factor. And he said, oh, we won't charge you extra. No one's in that big one.

We run that through this Airbnb thing too. And so I've said, okay. And so my wife's taking the kids and my father down there at the moment. And I am here in the small apartment. I'm looking forward to going and seeing it and seeing if that will make our life any easier. And in this temporary moment that they're there and I'm here because we don't have a car. You can't get child seats in a taxi. You've got to take the kids on the subway.

I'm recording in this one sweet, clear, possible moment. And I don't know how long it's going to go on for. At some point, the guy running the Airbnb is going to help me move my stuff over there. But he's been delayed. He's fixing someone's hot water. So I'm just going to try and keep talking until he gets here. Man, New York City. It's pretty vibrant.

There's a lot of stuff going on we went to the Met yesterday we looked at the Egyptian exhibit and the Asian exhibit and the European painting so that was very nice what a lot of beautiful cultures what a lot of beautiful cultures

that they've got all together I don't know how they got that stuff for the museum from all those places overseas I assume it was through indignified negotiation and humble requests I don't know how they got that stuff for the museum from all those places overseas. I assume it was through... ...indignified negotiation and humble requests. Occasionally you've got to kill somebody.

But it's a beautiful museum. You know, it is. The spoils of empire are glorious. You know, you don't have an empire, you don't have a museum. It's just your own stuff in the museum, man. That's kind of boring. What else happened? I got to go on...

I got to go on Stuff Island. Actually, I went to the museum with Chris from Stuff Island and his lovely girlfriend, Sadie. They're off to Austin very soon. All these people are moving to Austin. I think I'll be moving to Austin too. That's the current plan for getting a boat. I'll break it down for you.

It's that I think Austin is the place to be. I think that's the hub of comedy and also being able to have a family when we got to new york my wife said oh could we live here and i don't think she's saying that anymore having lived in a very small manhattan apartment but i think austin we'd be we'd be able to live there and we know some people there now and that'll be very nice but what i'm going to do i don't know the extent i went into detail i think i briefly mentioned this on the last podcast and didn't go into detail. We're going to go back to Australia in May.

And then I think we're going to come back. Excuse me, I'm falling over my work. I am so tired. I'm so tired. Everything hurts. Everything hurts. We're going to go back in May and come back to Austin to settle down for a period of time. Goodness knows how long, in around September.

And there's a couple of reasons for that. Number one, I basically don't have any money. Yes, we are doing this trip to Manhattan really thriftily, and my dad is being very helpful financially. And it's, you know, it's growing all the financial things for the boat that it has to grow, but it's very expensive. And living here in general is very expensive, so I need to go back to Australia and make a lump of money, which I anticipate I can do now.

People seem to think I'll be able to do that. If I go back and I do a national tour and hit up the big five cities, I'll be able to then leave Australia after that with a lump of money. And I tell you, even if it wasn't happening, even if I had had zero success in America and could not sell any additional tickets in Australia and going back was not a positive financial possibility, I'd want to find a way to get it to happen anyway. A friend is getting married. Man, two friends are getting married,

and I can't get there for both weddings, which is very disappointed. My friend Kieran is getting married too soon, and I'm not going to be able to make it to Kieran's wedding. And someone is hammering above me. Is it to shut me up? Is it to build the table? We may never know, but I will lower my voice regardless.

Anyway, Jack and Margo are getting married and we're going to be there and I'm going to be able to make money and go to Jack and Margo's wedding and I'm going to be able to open for some American comedians I think it seems like I might be able to do that so it's I think ultimately it's a good thing and everyone is enough everyone in the family is terrified of doing the flight again. It's the sort of flight you really only have to do once. It's all the unpleasantness of being poor, huddled masses on a boat that would have gone for three months back in the day, just concentrated down into a 16-hour of...

Oh, there's just so many noises. There's so many noises in the city. Please stop making a table or whatever it is. I can't speak more quietly. You can't be telling me to be quiet. Sweet listener, I'm going mad. Manhattan is a uniquely hostile environment to raise a family. We came into Manhattan because we just thought that would be easier to see everything if we were here and then we walk out but it's like the second you're outside there's so many noises in the corridor no one is meant to live in an apartment no one's meant to do it's inhuman you're boxed in like a sardine i i don't understand how the the heat pumps work they're so hot people say you're not meant to turn

them off you just open the window instead it's like a mid-century thing i'm smoking so many cigarettes and they're not even cheap in new york oh but you know i i will say i think that i mean the kids are happy the wife is varying between happy and exhausted if you don't stop the hammering i'll i'll do nothing because I'm utterly powerless to do anything about it, we'll persevere, we'll persevere through the hammering, I've got 11 minutes until the guy's coming to help me move my stuff, my focus now turns to Australia, I mean, America, gee, great things are happening here, we're growing the podcast, so many new listeners, I'm so proud to have you all here. Help me have a boat.

How much hammering can a person need to do? How many nails? How long a nail? Do we have a workshop in this apartment building? All right, I'm just going to get this part out, all right? I'll be doing a tour of Australia sometime in the middle of the year. I've got a new show that I've been working on. It'll be a new hour. And it'll be Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney. And we're going to be playing bigger rooms, like 300-seat venues. And it's going to be such a joy.

And the podcast numbers indicate that we can do that and that you'd come. I think 25 minutes of the show we'll be talking about the Genesis story of Sodom and Gomorrah, which shouldn't be controversial for anybody involved. My one issue, if I come back and I do that five-city tour, is Perth. I don't know what it is about this podcast.

It's big in Adelaide. It's big in Melbourne. It's big in Sydney. It's big in Brisbane. But it's comparatively petite in Perth. All the other cities have got the same number of listeners. We've got only 25 listeners. Maybe people in Perth don't want to put up with this sort of hammering nonsense on their podcast. Maybe it's a sufficiently beautiful place that people get on with their lives and don't want to put up with this sort of hammering nonsense on their podcast. Maybe it's a sufficiently beautiful place that people get on with their lives and don't listen to a podcast where a man just has to tense every muscle in his body and hope that the persistent hammering abates. Okay, it's abated.

Anyway, I thought it would be... Ah, it's... The second you say it. The second you say it. Okay, I might have to do this podcast later because I'm going, nah, nah. Check one, check, check. All right, we are back. We're back now in an Uber,

driving from the apartment to the other apartment. And now I don't have to talk to you if you don't want, sir. Would you like to be on the podcast? Yeah, I just, I record me talking for 20 minutes a week. Okay, that's all right. What was your name? Sukabeer. Thank you so much for driving me with all my stuff. I'll just, I'll rant back here's all right. What was your name? Sukkabir. Sukkabir. Thank you so much for driving me with all my stuff.

I'll just, I'll rant back here. All right. This can only hurt my star rating. But you're getting five stars. I want you to know that. You are very welcome. And where are we now? We are in the Atea North.

Atea North. Athea North. We're just leaving the Lower East Side, and we're moving further up Manhattan. And, oh, it's been mad. Sorry, the reason I've got to do this now is I'm going to go and see my family, and we've got three young kids staying in this apartment. This is the only time that I will have to speak into a microphone until the podcast is meant to come out. But, oh, stop. Oh, oh, there's someone right there.

Oh, sorry. So I'll shut up. I won't talk about the driving. I don't know. Man, driving in the city is terrifying. Boy, oh boy, wowee. Oh, well, I can tell. Maybe I'll tell people what I see.

That might be exciting for them. There are some big brown brick tenement buildings that look like they have been, they're all in a small cross. They're all in like a plus shape. And I assume that's what people call the projects. Yes, there's little parks down below. And I think that's the sort of place where Jay-Z would have been slinging crack rock back in the day.

And wow, just really, real hopelessness right there. Still persevering in the heart of Manhattan. Absolutely beautiful. And there's the Hudson. I think that's the Hudson. And, oh, I don't know that it was a good idea to do the podcast in the back of the car. If you find this distracting, I'll stop at any point. Really?

All right. I appreciate it. Well, I was going to tell people about how I'm going to do a tour of Australia in the middle of the year. And every city, I've got lots of listeners except for Perth. And I don't know why. Maybe Perth, you know, it's a different culture. It's very separate to the rest of the country. They've got their of listeners except for Perth, and I don't know why. Maybe Perth, you know, it's a more, it's a different culture. It's very separate to the rest of the country. They've got their own media there.

And so to do this tour and to have enough money to move back to America so that I can buy a boat, it does sound like a crazy person talking in the backseat. I will, oh, man, that's a beautiful view. That's really lovely. I think that's a Brooklyn Bridge. I don't know if it's the Brooklyn Bridge, but that is stunning. I'm sorry there's no video component on this podcast. Oh, it seems petty and ridiculous to talk about trying to grow my fan base in Perth while I'm here in this

magnificent city. And the tenement buildings have continued. They're becoming slightly ritzier, but still pretty hopeless. They're just the same kind that you have in Melbourne, only huge. Oh, Manhattan is so great. Manhattan is so great. Visiting Manhattan is so great. Living here, I think, with a family would probably be impossible. You'd need to be so rich to do that.

Do you live in the city? I live in Queens, sir. Oh, Queens. I love Queens. I've been in Astoria and I've been to Flushing. And how far out in Queens? I live in Jackson Heights, nearby Astoria. Jackson Heights. Is that a fancy bit of Queens or is it the good old-fashioned rough-and-tumble Queens? It's beautiful. I'm here. Queens used to be a difficult place to live, but now it's very nice.

Over the last 20 years, everyone I know who comes to New York, that's where they go. They go to Queens. But boy, oh boy, if I come back to New York, I'm going to come back to the city. It's just absolutely still tenement buildings. I keep waiting for it to turn into something other than tenement buildings.

I like that they've built the government housing with the best view of the river. You know, so you've got, you know, not a whole lot going for you. You've got a small apartment. You've got people selling their bodies just outside of where you're staying. But boy, does the water front keep you some solace. Oh yes, there's a Long Island dock. I can't imagine this is good listening for anybody, but it's something. Oh yes, now we've passed the tenement buildings and it's simply magical.

Wow. Listener, if you could see what I'm seeing, but my phone is too full of other videos that I took to continue to record'm actually in the city, I'm so rejuvenated. It's like there's a third rail out on the street keeping the battery full. Oh, and there are trees here. It's bloody good to see trees again. When we went to the Met, I realized that because it's an older form of architecture, you know, it's columns and it's stucco and it's intricate plaster work and masonry. And it gives me the same feeling in my heart that I get when I see a tree or a park or something.

And I realized, I mean, I guess I already knew it. I must have read it. I must have said it drunkenly at parties at university. But it mirrors nature and it gives you the same satisfaction you get in nature. And when you're just surrounded by big glass, flat things, it absolutely breaks the heart. Oh, but here. May I ask, I know it's impolite to ask,

but are you from Asia in the subcontinent? Yeah, I'm from Asia, so I'm from but are you from you're from uh asia in the subcontinent oh you're from nepal oh i've never gotten to go to nepal i don't know how i drag my family there but apparently nepal is like the most important geopolitical area because all the water comes from nepal for china and india and so they're both fighting for control of Nepal and, you know, on a government level. This is what I've read about. It seems like a difficult time. And they had that big earthquake, I know. That was terrible.

Were you there for that or were you already here? You were in Nepal for the earthquake? Oh, my goodness. Was it... It was... Sorry, which year? 2015. Mercy, were you in a city? I was in, not in a city, but...

No. But you were, there was still damage where you were in Nepal? Midwest. Midwest. Yeah, Midwest. Ah. That must have been quite a life experience. I imagine being there for that.

I mean, you got out and came to America shortly after. The Nepalese flag is, I think, one of the most exciting flags. It's such a weird shape. People at flag shops must get very angry when it comes time to make the Nepal flag. Because they've got to get a whole new piece of fabric. But, oh my goodness. Sorry, we're under another bridge here at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. It's the Queensborough Bridge.

That is really, I mean, even that, I don't know if they had to do it at the time with that... Would we say lattice work? That, like, the way the iron is constructed, it looks like ivy crawling... Maybe I'm having a manic episode, but to me, it looks like they're replicating ivy crawling over something. And it just...

It nourishes the heart and soul. Well, ladies and gentlemen, I've got to do three more minutes of the podcast and then I can stop. What do you think is the best thing to visit? If I manage to drag my family to Nepal, if somehow we get Nepalese listeners, what should we do?

In Nepal, the highest mountain in the world. I don't think I'll be taking my family up Everest, though. That sounds difficult. That sounds like a challenge. The name of Mount Everest? What's the name? Mount Everest. Do you know the Mount Everest?

Yeah, Mount Everest. Yeah, yeah. The highest mountain in the world. And it's not in the way, northern part of Nepal. But I'm told there are just corpses all up and down Mount Everest. It's not worth removing them. There's a lot of other adventures, like you can do the rafting. The rafting, wow, I wouldn't mind the rafting. Wow, I wouldn't mind the rafting.

Yeah. Did you do much mountaineering in Nepal? Pokhara. I'll be Wikipedia-ing all of this afterwards. The Pokhara. Well, Nepal is always the place that the... There's a certain kind of adventurous person in Australia who on their gap year when they finish school,

they just head straight for Nepal. And then they come back with... They hit up Tibet as well and they just do the whole subcontinent. But they come back with those little flags and lots of photos of them looking very cold. But I think I might have to wait until the kids are a bit older. I think the... Sorry, I'm getting a call from my dad.

Hello, Dad. Well, you're on the podcast. I'll put you on speaker. I'm just doing the podcast in the back of the Uber with my lovely Nepalese driver. What's his name? I'm going to get this very wrong. Sook beer. Sooker beer.

Sooker beer. I like to sooker beer. Now, James. Yes? We are in the middle of Kensington. We're in the middle of Kensington Garden. Well, hold on. You're in the middle of Central Park.

If you can get to the apartment by 2.15, I'll meet you there. Okay, we'll see you at the apartment at 2.15. All right, God bless. See you soon. God bless. Bye. Suka beer. Yes, sir.

It was the, we were staying in this tiny, tiny place in the downtown of Manhattan. And there were issues with the Airbnb and we were gonna go home and cut the trip short but the guy who runs it said well would you like to go to a nicer apartment instead in the uptown I said I can't afford that I don't have that kind of money and he said no no we'll just put you there so I think we're about to go to a ritzy apartment and I said my dad I'm just I just hope it's big enough that I can close the door. Just be away.

Have you got kids? Yes, sir. How many kids have you got? Yes, sir. I have one daughter and one son. They're all in my country. They're still in your country? Yeah.

Oh, man. Are you bringing them out here? I have not heard things. No? Man. How old are they? The first one is seven years and the second one is... Seven? Three years.

Three? Boy, difficult ages, difficult time. Oh, mercy me. Mercy, mercy me, young children. It's beautiful to have them, but exhausting. It must be... Are you married now? Am I married?

Oh, yeah. My wife is with the kids at the moment. Oh. How many kids do you have? We've got three kids. Five, no, sorry, four, three, and one. And who knows how many more? Because we're Catholic and you just,

you have the children that you have. Is it Tibet that has the multiple men marrying one woman? No. There's somewhere in that vicinity. But we're a pro-Nepalese podcast now. I didn't know that before. But I want you to know, we support Nepal. I don't know how.

I don't know the problems confronting Nepal. All right, ladies and gentlemen, that is a 21-minute podcast. I think we've closed it out. I'm going to pack everything up. I want to thank Sukabir. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast you're very welcome and um boy i hope the life settles down enough such that i can snatch a half hour in the next week i love you i miss you i want you i need you catamaran ho if you know someone in perth who'd enjoy the podcast please tell them about it

we've absolutely we've got a couple of months to grow the podcast in Perth so that I can play a nice big room there and take money with my family. It's so, it's so, traveling, being in a new country. I mean, when you first came to New York, you must have been, had you been here before? In New York? In New York. I used to live in New Jersey, and then after that I shifted to Connecticut.

Yeah. Man. Since three years. It must have been an enormous culture shock, I would think. I mean, I'm from Australia and I'm finding it to be insane. Every day I see something and I'm, you know, it's hard. But it is very beautiful. Have you been to the Met?

The big art gallery in Central Park. I recommend it. They've got too much stuff. We had to leave because my children were running around an Egyptian tomb and threatening to fall into a fountain. But I intend to take them back as soon as I can. I think that must be very bad luck to fall into a fountain next to a desecrated Egyptian tomb.

All right, everybody. Catamaran ho. We'll talk to you soon. And so on. So so on. So sore. សូវាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រវបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបា� Thank you. We'll see you next time. Peloton's got you covered. Summer runs or playoff season meditations, whatever your vibe, Peloton has thousands of classes built to push you. We know how life goes. New father, new routines, new locations.

What matters is that you have something there to adapt with you, whether you need a challenge or rest. And Peloton has everything you need, whenever you need it. Find your push. Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca. Right now, you can get up to 15% cash back at hundreds of stores, including Dyson, Adidas, Lenovo, and Expedia. You can even stack cash back on top of sales and promo codes. That's like savings on savings. With Rakuten, you can spend more time shopping for what you love

and less time worrying you're missing out on better deals. Now's the perfect time to join. Up to 15% cash back ends on December 2nd. And did I mention that it's super easy? Just go to Rakuten.ca, click on a store or deal, and shop like normal. Cash back will automatically be added to your account, and you can get it by PayPal or check. Join for free at Rakuten.ca or get the Rakuten app. That's R-A-K-U-T-E-N.