Tudo bem, ?

That's "how are you" in Portuguese. Some how, after nearly a hundred newsletters with greetings, I only just realised I hadn't ever used Portuguese to begin the email!

It's been a real rollercoaster of an exhausting week and I actually can't believe it's Sunday already. It seems to have flown by! More on that below.

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
• Creative Update - randInt - Dr Marion Chan
• Gadgets/Tech - Novium levitating pen
• Read - No God but God
• Watch - The Changing World Order
• Quote - Because here’s something else that’s weird but true: in the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship.

Week in the life

After the work week, I slept at 10pm Friday night and woke up at 10am the next day. I normally can't sleep in during the day but realised that apart from the day in Torquay, it had been a constant barrage of long hours the last few weeks. Totally accidentally as well!

The last fortnight has been... interesting. On the one hand, someone close to the family (though not someone I know particularly well) has passed away and as I write this, I just came back from wishing a good friend a happy birthday. The contrast of wishing someone that while knowing someone else will never have another is a very odd feeling...

I'm going to keep it short as an experiment and leave the rest over on the blog...

Creative update

randInt - Dr Marion Chan: Meticulous attention to detail in surgery and...baking

After promising interviews as the mainstay of Season 2, it's taken us til episode 4 to get anywhere near organised to do one!

This one's with our mutual medical school friend, Dr Marion Chan! We talk about her pathway into surgery, her hobbies and how she balances it all with a young child.

Oh and her secret love of World of Warcraft...

Gadgets/Tech

Novium levitating pen

Ok ok, I have a thing for levitating things and pens. This gadget combines both into 1 cool desk accessory!

If you're someone who's looking to spruce up your work desk, this is a damn cool accessory. There's another version too that holds the pen straight up.

Read

No God but God

This is a relatively old book that popped into my mind lately. As with a lot of things, context matters and in the aftermath of 9/11, Islam had a lot of it stripped away and replaced with fear.

I liked this book because the author himself was born Muslim, then converted to evangelical Christianity and then back again. Along the way, he completed theological studies too which make the text look at the human elements of it all. Not sure why it popped into my head, but it was a book that made me appreciate new things about my own religion and in an easily digestible way. He's also written about Christianity, extremism and religion in general.

What I'm reading at present:

• The Changing World Order - Ray Dalio's book on how empires rise and fall the different causes and effects that brings this about

Watch

The Changing World Order

If the current world doesn't feel like it's always shifting beneath your feet, congratulations, you're much better balanced with it all than I!

This video is a short summary of the book I'm currently reading also by the same author that explains the concepts of how civilisations rise and fall and the factors that underpin it all.

What I love about Ray Dalio is that he's taken really dry concepts and simplified them down, added great visuals with just enough depth to get the point across. He does talk pretty slowly though so feel free to play back at a higher speed!

Quote I'm pondering

“Because here’s something else that’s weird but true: in the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship.”

– David Foster Wallace

This is a short snippet from the excellent talk that I've linked before called "This is Water" which was a commencement speech. I've played this for more friends than I care to count, but this section and the examples after it are the point where it all seems to hit home for people as to what he's talking about.

The talk is well worth a listen and it's one of the few that I go back and listen to a few times every year. A lot of the quotes in this newsletter have to do with attention and where you focus it. This is no different but with a more forceful twist. If you do go and listen to the speech, please do let me know which bit was most impactful for you.

That's all for this week in another edition of levitating gadgets and interesting things to watch and read. As always, let me know what you thought by email or the survey below and I hope you're staying safe and sound.

- 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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