Manao ahoana, ?

That's "how are you?" in Malagasy which you may encounter if you travel to Madagascar. You're probably reading this in the morning and such is the challenge of writing a newsletter when on call. Anyway, what's new with you this week? Drop me a line!

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Week in the life

I was hoping to get this newsletter out on Sunday since the on call didn't seem to be super busy. Literally as I sat down to right it, the phone started going off the hook. Such is the nature of on call!

It's been a rather full week of working everyday and also doing some volunteering outside of work. This week, it was teaching basic life support and how to use a defibrillator at one of the local mosques. Gotta say that the turn out was quite decent for a Friday night at 830pm!

It might be obvious to everyone but me, but I really don't get the time to do basic life things when the workload happens to take up all 7 days! Even if one of them is a half day!

Especially at this time of year with end of year functions etc, there's just a lot of other events that take up the time and don't leave much room for writing emails or editing podcasts!

More on all that over on the blog...

Creative update

Nothing specific this week since it was a 7 day work week. I'm going to let myself off on weeks like this as it either produces shitty work or a lot of guilt that I haven't made something as promised.

Instead, here's some recent things...

• randInt S02E17 - Renovation slow, island time flows - most recent episode from the podcast with more "growing up brown" stories
• How much you can earn truly passively on Medium - an honest look at what "passive income" actually looks like online as a little experiment
• Photos x Raffy 2023 Wall calendar - Just waiting for the print shop to drop off the batch and I'll be shipping it out. If you "Add to Cart" you can still use the code "PREORDER" for 10% off

Gadgets/Tech

Uphold cutlery

This one is a Kickstarter project so crowdfunding dangers apply. I bought a reusable set and recommended it on here a while ago. Only complaint I have with it is that it's on the heavier side and rattles a little bit.

This looks like it'll fix just that so I've ordered one for myself

Other gadgets/tech

• Food storage bag on steroids - Another Kickstarter project, but looks like a solid upgrade on my lunch bag
• Instax mini camera & printer - Like a polaroid that can also print photos from your smartphone. How clever!

Read

World's most disappointing city

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that there are lists for everything these days, but I am mostly used to "best places to travel!" etc etc and not necessarily "most disappointing" but it is an interesting list.

While I haven't been to many of these places, what I found most interesting is the reasons that these places were considered to be disappointing: it's an interesting insight into what people expect from their travels...

Currently reading also reading...

• The Myth of Normal - Finally finished it. I think it's a worthwhile read that's a bit unnecessarily long. I'll do a summary post if people are interested in it in the future.

Watch

This is water

It's nearing the end of the year and I tend to go through my classic speeches in preparation for the new year.

This is water is a great speech by the late David Foster Wallace and even after listening to it at least 50 times, I keep coming back to it for a dose of wisdom. Highly recommended if you haven't heard it before.

Quote I'm pondering

'Love felt by the parent does not automatically translate into love experienced by the child.'

— Gabor Mate

This one stuck out to me when reading The Myth of Normal and seemed like an interesting thought: you may mean well, but it might not be perceived in that light.

In the context of the book, it talks about well meaning parents doing things for their kids out of love but it being perceived quite differently. Be it encouraging extra piano lessons or "doing the right thing" with discipline, it can have quite the opposite impression on how the other person is receiving the message.

When I read that, I could immediately think of moments growing up where I my own parents had the best of intentions and it came off totally the wrong way. I don't think it's limited to just adult-child interactions though...

Just food for thought that what you're trying to do and the impression that it gives may be 2 very different things...

With that. see you next week!

- Raffy

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