Seeing the Familiar with Fresh Eyes [9th Feb 25]
Or "how to find exciting things in your own neighbourhood"
Howdy there!
Have you ever felt like your own city is kind of a mystery? This week, I played tour guide for some friends from Sydney, which made me see Melbourne in a totally new way. I ended up visiting places I hadn’t been to in over five years, and it was cool to mix old memories with fresh experiences.
I really enjoyed playing host—it’s not something I get to do often, but it’s such a great way to reconnect with where you live. It made me realize that Melbourne is even better than I remembered. Guests notice little things that locals take for granted, like how nice our sidewalks are or how seamless the public transport can be.
We also revisited some classic restaurants, and it reminded me why they’re still around—great food and reliable service never go out of style. And of course, Melbourne’s laneways are truly one-of-a-kind. Walking through them, you can always find hidden gems, from street art to hole-in-the-wall cafes.
Another thing that stood out? There’s always something happening here. A festival, a pop-up event, an art show—if my guests had more time, I could’ve shown them so much more.
On a fun note, they’re both Samsung fans, which led to some great conversations about tech. It’s amazing how a shared interest can bring people together, even when they come from completely different backgrounds. It also influenced me in an unexpected way—seeing things with fresh eyes made me rethink how I set up my own phone. A total refresh can be a great thing, especially discovering new features and tools!
How has the past week been for you? Hit “reply” and let me know!
🎨Creative update
Actually, not a lot this week given it was a super busy work week. That said, given the focus on AI on the new phone mentioned last week, here’s some prompted wallpapers I’ve made. A bit on how to make your own a bit further down.
📺 Things to watch
Most unique hotels around the world
While helping select the AirBnB for the Sydney guests, I fell into a bit of a YouTube rabbit hole of cool hotels around the world.
This video highlights some of the coolest ones around, not just the most luxurious. Given the wallpapers I’m generating, I love the almost hidden cube in the woods the most!
💡Tech & Tools: Rediscovering What’s Familiar
I finally set up my S25 Ultra*, and while I don’t have any major updates yet, I’ve been trying out a few apps that help see everyday things from a new angle:
✅ Shade Map – This is a cool web tool that lets you see how shadows fall in any location. Useful to plan out sunrise/sunset photos.
✅ Notion AI – I have been using Notion for the podcast for a while now but there’s all these new features that I just hadn’t explored. You can essentially run an internal company wiki or go as far as making a website all from this one app!
Got any cool app recommendations? Let me know!
🎬 Actionable insight
“Learn AI prompt-engineering”
This sounds complicated, but essentially it’s learning how to make requests of the various AI tools. This week, it’s going to be as easy as can be: just copy the text below and you’ll have your own AI generated wallpaper like mine up above. You can always add more to the request and change the output.
Enjoy!
Please generate a phone wallpaper with the following instructions: A high-resolution 9:16 wallpaper featuring an abstract futuristic building in a vast desert, designed in a low-poly, pastel art style strictly resembling Monument Valley. The structure is highly simplified, with clean, smooth, geometric surfaces and minimal surface detail, staying true to the minimalist aesthetic. The building consists of multiple interconnected angular segments, with the majority of the structure appearing to levitate, suspended in mid-air. Floating architectural components enhance the mystical and futuristic atmosphere. The surrounding desert is vast and serene, with smooth dunes and simple rock formations below the hovering structure.
The sky is kept simple, maintaining the cohesive theme of the image. A very subtle, barely noticeable low-poly comet with a faint glowing trail blends seamlessly into the pastel gradient of peach, lavender, and sky blue. A crescent moon glows softly, further enhancing the serene ambiance. The composition evokes a sense of discovery, as if uncovering the remnants of an ancient, highly developed race beneath a tranquil celestial sky.🗓️ Follow up from last week
Last week, a few people wanted some accountability for their goals in the poll. If that was you, I thought maybe WhatsApp community might be helpful.
Click the link to join and we can organise a weekly chat/call to see how people are tracking.
💬 Quote of the week
This week, it’s from a Hungarian biochemist, who had something to say that really fit this week’s theme…
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