Let we forget, ,

It's ANZAC Day in Australia, where we remember the sacrifices made by the those who passed away in the conflicts of the past. It feels especially poignant given the situation in the world right now. Is there an equivalent day where ever you're reading this? Let me know.

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In this week's email...

• Week in the Life - read on the blog
• Creative Update - Cats of Ramadan
• Gadgets/Tech - Oru Origami Kayak
• Read - Three body problem
• Watch - This could be why you're anxious or depressed
• Quote - “How am I complicit in creating the conditions I say I don't want?”

Week in the life

Last week's vacation was very much needed and I have to say the constant level of tiredness has disappeared! I didn't even realise it was there until about 3-4 days of sleeping in and resting. Prior to the pandemic, I used to think I was being a bit spoilt in taking a week off every 3-4 months, but I'm realising that I only managed to work long hours BECAUSE of those breaks...

I'm already planning the future ones for later in the year including one massively long one around September, but more on all that over on the blog...

Creative update

Cats of Ramadan

They've been slow coming out but the next video in the Ramadan 22 series is out now! Because this was filmed mainly around the time I was a bit unwell, a lot of it features me recuperating with my cats!

They have been wonderful to have around and are especially great at keeping me warm. Also, we're past $500 in the fundraising for this year with about 1 week to go! Thank you to those who have donated and if you'd like to, you can still do so.

Gadget/Tech

Oru Origami Kayak

Firstly, this is a crowd-funding campaign that I'm currently not going to back since I got an inflatable kayak about a year ago. I thought I'd share since this is an existing company doing a crowd funding campaign so chances are that they'll actually deliver and secondly, it's just so darn cool! It's not an affiliate link or anything, just thought this is a project that solves my main problem with the inflatable kayak and does it with style!

Other tech & gadgets:

• 100 days of code - If you're interested in programming but have ZERO knowledge, this is one of the best courses to guide you from the absolute basics in one of the most useful languages: Python.
• NanoBags - These shopping bags are TINY but super strong.

Read/Listen

Three body problem

Thought I'd get back to fiction during my short break. I've only gotten a few chapters into this book but it's just so...graphic? It's immediately obvious that you're in some dystopian alternate reality but one that explores things that happened in China's past that many of us would not have known about.

The most striking thing for me was the opening. Set in the middle of a revolution but in the context of physics. I can't wait to read more.

Watch

This could be why you're anxious or depressed

I'm on a bit of a roll with TED talks lately and found this one interesting to ponder. With the modern world as it is, it's hard to not feel like the uncertainties are increasing leading to more and more anxiety/depression. In this talk, John Harari talks about the unusual approaches some communities around the world have used to combat this increasing problem. My favourite was the use of a cow. Yes, a cow.

Quote I'm pondering

“How am I complicit in creating the conditions I say I don't want?”

– Jerry Colonna 

I first heard this quote on the Tim Ferriss podcast and it resurfaced on his newsletter this week and it got me thinking about it again. After having that short break last week, I realised that my calendar is filled to the brim with scheduled work, but in the ideal world, it'd be balanced with other fun things that I love doing too.

So I'm very much complicit in creating the conditions I don't want but essentially culling time from all things creative and from finding a way to be more active and fit.

It's a pretty interesting question to ponder. Any areas that come to mind for you? Care to share?

On that note, I'll leave to reflect for another week. Hope you enjoyed this week's newsletter!

- Raffy

PS - What was your favourite part of the email this week? Do you like/dislike the subtle changes this year? Let me know with 1 click! I read the survey every week (& keep tweaking things with your feedback!)

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