149 - Life Update ☀️💬
Hey there, !
Before we start, the big #150 is coming up for the newsletter, so please fill out the 2022 SURVEY HERE!
I feel like I'm just slowly finding more 'common' articles to be writing, like the Brainstorms I do every 10 newsletters - here's another that seems to be a regular - Vince's Life Update! If you want to see more, fill in the survey for me and share your thoughts! Thaaaaaanks <3
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The renovation has started! We're demolishing things, making appliance selections, tiles - the works. Hoping to be done in another 2-3 months or so and then BAYBEEEE we gonna have a bunch of newsletters about #movingout life. I can't believe that tiles are so damn hard to choose but we are GETTING there so big sighs of relief.
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The recovery from COVID has taken a while, but I feel like I'm getting back to normal. Extremely lucky and happy that this has not been as long term as I thought, though my fitness has definitely taken a hit. I had a fly-in, fly-out a week ago that had a bit of a close call re: my exhaustion but we were lucky to know what the signs were and make sure I was safe and got home. Sleep is the next thing I'm going to be trying to fix - will let y'all know how that goes.
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On a related note - I can sense that I'm piling on more into my schedule all the time, but also that I'm creeping closer to knowing my sustainable limit. I need a good balance of rest and recreation, and I think I'm finding that but unsure. What are your tips to keeping on top of things?
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I started reading more fiction again - my Kindle will be getting a bit more of a workout as I get through some new books (sorry library - you're just not doing it for me at the moment). I was in a bit of a rut trying to re-read some old classics (the Dune books) but we're looking at some new and exciting sci-fi - one I'm reading at the moment is Piranesi that is wonderfully surreal. Looking for recommendations too :D
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I handmade some pasta recently - I got a KitchenAid attachment that helps do this and it's just...a lot of fun. I made some Rigatoni and the extrusion was quite cool - a technical marvel for simple-minded folk such as myself. The texture's not exactly the same as you might get for box pasta but c'est la vie!
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I'm looking forward to some weird and wacky MIFF films that are coming out in a month, and hopefully traveling again later this year (both interstate and internationally). I have a bunch of leave saved up and I just...don't know how to use it optimally. First world problems, y'know?
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Speed dating worked :)
Chat soon :)
Let me know if you have any feedback for the newsletter!
✔️Real Life Recommendations
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Piranesi - the book I mentioned above! A really fascinating fantasy book - if I was an English teacher I would use this to show how form can really help shape a story. In this one, it's told in the first person, but uses journals, scraps of letters, biographies and other text types to get the story acoss. It has a sense of magical realism and reveals itself slowly, which was an absolute pleasure to read. It's not too long, and goes at a good pace. Highly recommended!
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Mornington Peninsula Hot Springs - I hadn't been for a looong time and it was really nice to see the persistent 'renovations' actually come to fruition. When I went over the weekend, the weather was perfect and it was a beautiful day to submerse yourself in some warm pools of water. Very relaxing times - always recommended :)
🚌 Adventures on the Information Super-Highway
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The Daily Wrong - A website where the news is written by GPT-3, the illustrations are generated by DALL-E; it's all made up and the points don't matter. A keyhole picture into the future of 'news'...
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Blue Zones - These blue zones are places in the world where a majority of people make it well into their 90s in pretty healthy fashion. A summary of the key denominators:
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Move naturally - not just go to the gym
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Purpose - knowing what and why you're doing things every day
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Downshift - relax, destress, and have a siesta!
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80% rule - eat til you're 80% full - there's no need to gorge
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Plant slant - eat lots of plants
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Wine - 1 or 2 glasses per day, with friends and/or food
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Belong - be part of a community (in most of these places it was religion) - quote: "Research shows that attending faith-based services 4 times per month will add 4 to 14 years of life expectancy."
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Loved ones first - keep old folks around, commit to one partner, invest time and love into kids
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Right tribe - gather the right groups of people who have healthy habits around you
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7 things D&D taught me about Storytelling - I love D&D, and this article is a really great summary of why it helps with story-telling and communication. It's more than that in terms of fantastical escape, but it's a great collaborative storytelling session you can have with friends that only needs your imagination :D