šÆNoodlings from my Seoul trip and October wrapped
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šÆNoodlings from my Seoul trip and October wrapped
Oh hi, I am back!
Last week I enjoyed a glorious week of hanging out and exploring Seoul with one of my oldest (in length of friend time) friends. It was such a stark reminder that as adults, we just donāt spend that type of quality time together with our friends, which is a damn shame. You canāt replicate that kind of depth of connection across intermittent texts / calls / ālikesā / birthday cards / lunches. Not that those things arenāt important and nice and valuable, they absolutely are. But every so often thereās a need for spending a chunkier chunk of time together. For spending whole days out, or just hanging out in the same space without a set plan.
Iām a big fan of the concept of dating your mates. One friend (šš» OK!) has a recurring weekly dinner date with a friend; every Wednesday evening they get together and either go to dinner or go to one of their places to eat food and hang out. So good! In 2019 I went to Byron with a friend for a weekend to celebrate our 10 year āfriendaversaryā. I dream of having a recurring Friday dinner or Sunday lunch open house policy where friends can drop in and thereās always a seat for one more.
Returning home from the trip, I feel rejuvenated from being somewhere new for a few days, fulfilled about the quality friend time I was lucky enough to enjoy, and reenergised to do a few things differently.
[Iāve also got the usual good book tips for you this week. Keep scrolling for my October reviews.]
Things Iāve enjoyed - the travel edition
Hereās some things that made a difference to my latest trip:
Stationery! I love stationery shopping when I travel, and Seoul was no exception. For the full round up of goodies, check out my stationery haul.
Tech - eSim: I always pick up a local sim card when I travel, but on this trip I decided to try an eSim. Readers, I am converted. It was so good to have the sim sorted pre-departure, which meant no faffing around trying to find a sim card booth when I arrived at the airport (luckily, as a lot of them were closed). I used Holafly on this trip, and would definitely use them again.
Tech - Airtags: I purchased a box of Apple Airtags a couple of months ago in anticipation for travel. Thankfully my bags didnāt go missing, but I was very pleased to have that peace of mind. I kept one hidden in the rucksack that had my laptop in (which mostly stayed at our Airbnb) and one in my suitcase. Definitely one of those things youād regret not having at the time you need them. Get some.
Comfort - Cabeau S3 Travel Pillow: when I arrived at the airport I realised Iād forgotten my usual travel pillow š¤¦š»āāļø . I questioned whether to bother getting another one, theyāre all just soā¦ crap. But wandering through duty free I spied the Cabeau. Looking like something from one of those Sunday newspaper catalogues (probably also featuring velcro shoes and walk in bathtub accessories), I thought it was likely a fad. But upon trying it, I was pleasantly surprised. I handed over my $50 and hoped for the best on my upcoming overnight flight. 30 hours of flying later and Iām impressed. It does what it says at keeping your head in place. My only complaint is that the height of it makes it hard to wear proper headphones (another travel essential).
Comfort - Alaska Bear Silk Sleep Mask: This is my sleep essential for all sleeps, not just plane sleeps. Iāve got a couple of these particular eye masks which are nicely soft and provide the perfect level of blackout. Treat yoāself.
Music - And I Have Been by Benjamin Clementine: You may remember me raving about Benjaminās latest single in the last bookmark and hoping it was the sign of a new album. It was! And here it is. I had this on a loop for two of my flights. Listen.
What have you been reading/listening/watching/enjoying recently? Pop a comment to this post, hit reply, or just tap the little heart button if you liked something you read.
Dancing around on itchy feet,
Steph
PS. To borrow from Austin Kleon (and everyone else who borrows this from Austin Kleon), this newsletter and the podcast are 'free but not cheap'. You can support their ongoing creation by buying me a coffee as a one off 'thank you', or leaving giving the podcast a (five š) star rating on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Thanks!
What I read in October
At the end of each month I am very grateful for my Storygraph giving me all my top stats for the month, and also reminding me that Iāve completed my goal of reading 45 books this year š„³. Hereās what I read last month that took me to that totalā¦
š BOOKS I READ WITH MY EYES šā
Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte
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This felt like a bit of an updated version of David Allenās Getting Things Done, another good book on outsourcing your brain to put it to better use for creating ideas rather than mass storage. I did like some of Tiagoās more digital-first approaches and some of the structures he proposed to organise the masses of information we collect. Iāve taken a few actions from it too (Iām finally using Notion), so thatās always a good sign of a useful book.
6 Types of Working Genius by Patrick Lencioni
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Automatic points deducted for the cringe fable, of course. The model would be an interesting conversation starter in a team. But I didnāt feel like it had the oomph factor or originality of 5 Dysfunctions of a Team.
Converge by Dr Catherine Ball
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Very cool and accessibly written book by Aussie scientist Dr Catherine Ball, all about emerging technology/science and the potential of Industry 5.0. I love this kind of stuff, and happily fell down a number of Google rabbit holes that the book left me wanting to find out more about. Itās an equal-parts hopeful and frustrating read as you see whatās already possible but isnāt getting the traction it deserves.
šš¼BOOKS I READ WITH MY EARSšš¼
Faith Hope and Carnage by Nick Cave and Sean OHagan
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I really wanted to love this and I was excited to listen to it. Look, if youāre a Nick Cave fan itās worth a listen/read, as thereās some interesting (and incredibly painful) insights into his creative process, particularly the creation of the Skeleton Tree and Ghosteen albums. However, I found it a bit repetitive and the way they read exactly what they had written felt too stilted, especially when youāre used to listening to flowing podcast conversations.