Sunday Surprise - Melbourne Cup edition 🏇[5-Nov-24]

It's essentially a VERY long weekend...

Hello there!

It’s Melbourne Cup week here in Victoria! For reasons I still can’t quite grasp, this horse race is such a big deal that the whole state gets a public holiday. And since it falls on a Tuesday, many people take Monday off too, making for an extra-long weekend. So, in the spirit of extending the randomness of your weekend, here’s this week’s edition of The Sunday Surprise!

If you got the day off, hit “reply” and let me know how you spent it! If you’re reading from the US, it’s election eve—what’s the mood like where you are? As always, a bit of housekeeping below!

General housekeeping: Did you know 90% of this newsletter is free? I’ll share affiliate links (marked with a *) here and there too. If you’ve ever enjoyed my quirky content, appreciated my charity efforts, or simply want to support Substack, consider subscribing. It’s less than $2 a week, and while Substack takes a cut, I donate most of what’s left to charity. Plus, your subscription tells me that what I’m doing here has value!

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Creative update

Qantas luggage tags are selling for insane prices!

I set a goal to film and edit a YouTube video every two weeks, mainly to improve my skills. This time, a simple unboxing video turned into a dive into the wild world of Qantas luggage tags—selling for surprisingly high prices. It’s a quirky reminder of what people are willing to pay for.

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Things I’m reading

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

I actually started this book a while ago and totally forgot about it since I became obsessed with Outlive* instead. This is from the same author of Four Thousand Weeks* and so far it’s treading a similar path but in a new way. If nothing else, I find his writing quite amusing/witty so it’s been an entertaining read.

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Cool finds

Samsung Galaxy Ring*

I’ve used the Oura ring* as a sleep tracker for a while, but the new Samsung Galaxy Ring caught my attention. No subscriptions, seamless phone integration, and a fantastic ecosystem fit if you’re already using Samsung products.

My favorite feature? It pairs with your phone to detect and even record snoring patterns while tracking oxygen levels. It’s like having half a sleep lab on your nightstand!

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Actionable insight

Appreciate that even complex things…just work?

I try to keep to a very simple gratitude journal: in my daily diary, I write the top 3 things I want to do in a day and 3 things that I really liked.

I’ve had some insights from doing this and this mini revelation occurred to me only recently: we have such complex systems and technology all around us, but by and large… it just works?

Not to say that there aren’t frequent times when that’s not the case, but just think of all the systems that had to work just for you to be able to read this email (or for me to even send it in the first place!): the electricity grid, internet provider, a smelter somewhere that’s made the glass for the screen you’re reading this on.

All of that had to come together and it did so just for this simple email to reach you. It’s these kinds of moments that really make me stop and feel a little in awe of it all…

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Weekly Update

If I had to sum up the week, it’d be pleasantly uneventful. 😊

It had the usual mixture of work and other commitments. The course I’m doing is now in full swing and requiring a decent amount of concentrated effort. I have covered a lot of this in previous short courses and while I personally don’t like the teaching method of this course, it’s showing me some new and elegant ways of doing some of the basics that significantly speed up writing code.

It seems like I don’t go a single week without some even or reason to have a meal with a bunch of people. This week was no different. My brother-in-law bought a house and my mother-in-law is about to return home to Singapore. To celebrate we went to one of my usual staples: Malaysian Food. I go to this restaurant (Roti Road) so often that I’m now Instagram friends with them 😂

In other ways, the week has felt oddly significant? In my time in the US, I didn’t really hear much about the elections and now they’re here. It feels so much more significant and immediate. And also, how is it November already?!

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Quote of the week

This week, it’s from an old poet as quotes by Jeff Goldblum…