The Sunday Surprise

The Sunday Surprise

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The Sunday Surprise
The Sunday Surprise
Aurora ahoy! [ Sunday Surprise 12th May 2024 ]

Aurora ahoy! [ Sunday Surprise 12th May 2024 ]

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Raffy
May 12, 2024
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The Sunday Surprise
The Sunday Surprise
Aurora ahoy! [ Sunday Surprise 12th May 2024 ]
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Ahoy there, dear reader!

Looks like nature is gracing us with some rare spectacles this weekend. If you’re reading this ON the Sunday, be sure to head out to somewhere dark and facing south and you may just see the Aurora Australis!

It’s been a LONG time since I heard from the vast majority of readers such as yourself, so please do drop me a message and also share this newsletter to anyone who might find it enjoyable.

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Weekly update

This week had some unexpected work cancellations and all-day lists that were reduced to half days. You know what? It was GREAT!

I managed to get to the home stretch of finalising the US visa, meet with my accountant and banker and get some other paperwork finished while having the time to explore a new area, spend time in the library AND witness the brightest aurora I’ve ever seen!

I’d call that a win for the week!

One thing I realised is that if I my work is about 20% less, I’m SO much more productive/happier than going at full speed. It turns out that while I’ll get more clinical work done, I tend to do that at the expense of less urgent tasks that tend to build up until they’re a crisis.

I remember reading something similar from Derek Sivers about how he used to cycle at 100% intensity but then decided one day to enjoy the process and was only a minute slower but so much happier. Maybe it’s time I adopted a similar approach…

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Project updates

Given just how many people were asking me questions with regards to the aurora, the main task was to get an article out so I could send them the info in one piece.

If you’re curious, it’s available on the blog.

  • A Guide to Capturing the Aurora


Cool finds

Not so much a “cool find” but rather an essential that I really appreciated last night: tripods. I have a wide variety of them but the 2 that came in most useful was this very cheap and light one from Ulanzi to hold my compact camera which also had a phone holder built in. The other one is the slimmest phone tripod that I can just slip in my pocket.

Without these, I wouldn’t be able to get photos half as nice as the ones I managed to get.

  • Ulanzi compact camera/phone tripod*

  • Ulanzi slim phone camera tripod* - this one is precision engineered and they’re not cheap!


Media/Books/Videos

A few weeks ago, I re-read 4000 Weeks by Oliver Burkeman and found that it had more of an impact the second time around. I only just discovered that he has a second book out now! I love the tag line personally 🤣

I’ve only just started reading it, so if you wanna follow along, the link is below:

  • The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking*


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