Welcome!

Two newcomers brings our total to 62. That's the number of ultra-billionaires who collectively own as much wealth as the bottom half of the world's population. Yes, you read that right. 62 people have the same combined wealth as the bottom 3.5 billion.

I wonder what kind of illuminati conversations would occur if those 62 ultra-billionaires ever gathered for dinner. I wonder what they'd eat?

Thanks for being an early subscriber to my digital postcard. I prefer the description postcard (rather than newsletter) cuz it feels more casual, personal and specific to a moment in time. Each week I share updates, anecdotes and links to things I enjoyed recently.

TIP: First-time recipient? A reply will help prevent these emails being marked spam. Don't feel obligated to say something kind or clever. In fact, I encourage the opposite. Make your reply as conveniently incoherent as possible. A quick: "sDGHsdasd" is splendid :)

In Praise of Sleep Masks

I'd never worn a sleep mask until this week. I'm a fortunate sleeper, usually asleep in minutes. Strapping cloth over my eyes before I shut them hasn't been necessary.

My girlfriend recently got an Oura ring, and the sleep data it tracks spurred conversations on sleep quality. Some brainwave synchronization led to us each surprising one another with a sleep mask as a gift. I began to use mine this week.

You don't realize how bright a 'dark' room is until you look into actual darkness. I typically fall asleep within 10 minutes. Now its almost instant. If I wake up in the morning to go to the bathroom when I put the mask back on it overrides my brain back into night mode.

The best part is it eliminates light interference frustration. You no longer feel the person beside you shouldn't be reading/on their phone quite so brightly as you try to drift off into REM.

As someone who always thought sleep masks seemed goofy/unnecessary, I now see the light darkness :)

Kiwi Reunion

A tedious tale of Covid, winter pet flight restrictions, highway closures, multiple shifts in my girlfriend's family holiday plans etc. etc. etc. resulted in me going to Vancouver solo for our original flight dates (Dec 12 - Jan 8) while my girlfriend stayed home with our dog, Kiwi.

Here's the reunion video of Kiwi and I. It's 2min (more canine enthusiasm than I expect anyone to watch in entirety) but even if you just watch the GIF preview it'll serve as a fur comparison shortly...

Furmageddon

As I wrote this week's postcard, my girlfriend tackled an overdue trim/tackle of Kiwi's matted fur. Here's how that went:

Kiwi's legs are still super furry compared to the rest of her (heavily sheared). The contrast of her bulging limbs against her frame makes her look like she lifts weights. Or is a rare labradoodle-kangaroo hybrid.

Wild

This single for Spoon's upcoming album is my favourite new song of 2022. It has a U2 / Rolling Stones rhythmic buildup with a big grin of a chorus. It'd be a great song to drive to on a warm day.

Wild Spoon

That's all till next week!

I recognize even for a newsletter without a defined niche/focus, two videos of my dog is testing the limits. If this one was too animal themed, and you'd rather I'd chosen one pet video and tried a bit harder to find a unique take on the movie Don't Look Up I watched last night...

...blame my friend Michael Sklar. He started it.

Michael Sklar 🚢 @michaelsklar A new tradition for #ship30for30? A gift to your Twitter followers? pic.twitter.com/lk1Nm8GiU4 January 14th 2022 0 Retweets 22 Likes

Thanks for reading,

Tommy

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PS. Replies Encouraged :)

• If you have 27 seconds to jot an impression of this postcard, please do!
• I know each of your lives bustle with activity. If it helps, think of the reply as a text (rather than an email).
• A quick jotted: “What sleep mask do you use?” or "I enjoy the Kiwi features, just hope she survives the -25 Toronto winds" is valuable signal of where to re-invest :)