Bonswa {{contact.first_name}}! Sunday Surprise incoming!!! (23rdJan2022)
Jan 23, 2022 7:46 am
Bonswa, !
That's how you'd say "good afternoon" in Haiti. Hopefully you're reading this safe and sound after an amazing weekend. What did you get up to? I always love to know, so email me!
Before I go on, a shameless request! Could you forward this newsletter to just 3 people that you think would like one of the articles? It helps A LOT! If you're the friend reading this, click the link below to join! Glad to have you here!
In this week's email...
- Week in the Life - read on the blog
- Monthly wallpapers - Jan 2022 Wallpapers
- Creative Update - randInt S02 Episode 1 - Heart rates & first dates(kinda)
- Gadgets & Tech - 100 days of Code
- Read - Range
- Watch - How was tennis invented? (~6min)
- Quote - "Desire is a contract that you make with yourself to be unhappy until you get what you want.”
Week in the life
It was the first week back at work for me and a relatively gentle easing back I have to say. Currently, due to the Omicron wave, a lot of the elective surgery and private hospital are cancelled or shut. That meant that I had a few half days (which my bookings person tried to fill, but I decided to be lazy and enjoy the time) to get my day to day affairs in order.
In a way, knowing I don't have the ability to run off somewhere meant that it felt a bit more relaxing since I didn't feel like I was "wasting" a holiday. Lot's of afternoon naps were had and time spent with the cats.
Melbourne had some altered New Years celebrations due to the pandemic. One of the things that was meant to have happened was a drone show along with fireworks which was postponed for a few weeks. During a run last week, I managed to catch a bit of the show. Not the best photos since I literally stopped in the middle of the run to take a few snaps and a video.
After an Instagram poll last week, people requested to see some old photos from my CareFlight days. Gotta say looking through made me very nostalgic about my time there. More on that over on the new blog...
Monthly wallpapers
Latest bunch of wallpapers for your phone are out now! This month I tried to balance it out with 2 "warm" coloured images and 2 that were a bit more moody. A true reflection of the state of Melbourne weather during summer!
If you use them on your phone, I'd love to see how they end up looking. Send me a screenshot or share on Instagram with #photosbyraffy and I'll go looking for them.
Hope you like them!
Creative update
randInt Season 2 Episode 1 - Heart rates & first dates(kinda)
RandInt Season 2 is back (and actually up to date on Youtube as well!) for 2022! This episode has us going over the holiday season, into the weeds of biometric data tracking and possibly our most random request from a listener to date...
This year, we have much bigger plans for randInt with a focus on interviewing guests and exploring how the random has influenced others in their journey. Now with MUCH better audio quality and structure than when we started...
Gadgets & Tech
This one more than any other is useful to get a grasp of not only Python as a very flexible computer language but also the basic thinking in computer science. It's divided into 100 projects that should take about an hour or so each. Unlike super heavy courses that require a huge time commitment, I've found that I can fit this in around a relatively busy schedule and ACTUALLY make functional programs. If you're curious, start here.
- Amazing Marvin - I've gone through a whole bunch of to-do apps and have settled on this one for 2022. It's super flexible and extensible for almost all needs.
- Oura ring - Possibly my favourite health tracker to date and one of my favourite purchases of the last year. It's given me insights and actually changed my health behaviour unlike a ton of other gadgets.
Read
This book argues that generalising has many benefits that are overlooked in an hyperspecialised world. I've only about a quarter of the way through the book but I do find myself nodding along to what it says.
Even without the data, I'd say having some general skills also leads to more fun and variety.
Watch
How was tennis invented? (~6min)
Turns out tennis wasn't always played with what we know as a tennis ball! And the scoring system came about because of how they decided to record the match easily. If you're curious, it's a good summary for 6 mins.
Quote I'm pondering
“Desire is a contract that you make with yourself to be unhappy until you get what you want.”
– Naval
While I've been a big fan of Naval for a while, I realised he's done all these other podcasts and interviews that I hadn't heard before. I'm currently scouring the internet looking for a whole bunch of them to listen to during walks/runs etc.
I do love the arc he's taken with his life of going from starting with nothing, creating massive businesses to realising his strengths and focussing on optimising for that so he does the things he's good at and is able to take the time to reflect on the other aspects of life, be it happiness or philosophy.
The quote above has been said by many people in many different ways. I specifically like this version because it puts the onus on you as the person making the contract with yourself. Since it's also defined as a contract, you also get to set the terms. The fact that you get to set the terms of your own unhappiness in weirdly comforting in a way as it means you can negotiate to NOT be that way too.
That's it for another week ! Hope you're enjoying the rest of the weekend. As always, I simply LOVE hearing from you and your opinions. Feedback is always welcome!
Stay random!
- Raffy
PS - What was your favourite part of the email this week? Let me know with 1 click! I read the survey every week (& keep tweaking things with your feedback!)
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