Welcome!

There's 36 of us gathered this week. Fun backstory on one of the newcomers — we met at an author's Zoom Q&A. Out of 14 of us in the call, one woman had an exceptional video backdrop. It looked like Wes Anderson helped setup the lighting, colour palette and couch-pillow symmetry of her video frame. I reached out in the Zoom chat to compliment her video setup and it led to a conversation about a course she's creating, teaching the business side of dentistry.

I have a mantra I try to live by: anytime you're bored, go deeper.

If a Zoom call feels dull, scan the thumbnail grid of the other participants. Send a chat message to someone who seems cool. There's no value in being physically present somewhere unless you're engaged. Serendipity tends to reward those who seek it. If you're lucky, you befriend a cool dentist. 🙃

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.

In this postcard I’ll share updates, anecdotes and links to things I enjoyed recently. I’m committed to weekly publishing, but not yet tied to a particular day of the week. The arrival will have the same element of surprise you get with a traditional postcard.

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 :)

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Circle The Drain (Song Exploder)

If an earth-media curious alien ever asks me: "What show best utilizes the unique power of the podcasting medium?", my answer will be Song Exploder.

If the show is new to you, here's an excellent summary from Wired magazine's founding executive editor, Kevin Kelly:

Song Exploder is my go-to when my ears are on the fence between listening to music or a podcast. The show's host, Hrishikesh Hirway, has created a brilliant fusion of the best of each artform.

On Monday I listened to an episode on the song "Circle The Drain" by Soccer Mommy. It's a catchy pop song, and really fun to hear each of the layers come together in the mix.

Emma and Danica, think you'd enjoy this

Listen: "Circle The Drain"

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Max Cooper

Recently I discovered the musician Max Cooper. His whole album Yearning For The Infinite provides great electronic momentum for writing. Here are two standout tracks:

"Perpetual Motion" is excellently named. It's a LoopTrack for me, one I can play it on repeat for long stretches of focus.

Perpetual Motion Max Cooper

Arthur, curious what you think of this one :)

"A Fleeting Life" stopped me in my tracks the first time I played the album. Up to this point the whole album is instrumental. When the voice entered, the hushed words made me pause and shift from background to forefront listening. Beautiful, meditative track.

A Fleeting Life Max Cooper

Megan, this track reminded me of our Overstory convo

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Hallway Chase

Sometimes as we return to our apartment from a walk, my girlfriend and I run to opposite ends of the hallway. Our labradoodle Kiwi sprints between us with delight. We've done this a lot recently, to the point where Kiwi looked at us with bewilderment last night when we didn't do the hallway sprint game at 1am.

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That's all till next week!

Often as I include a link, a particular person comes to mind. I decided to try an experiment this week and mention those specific people. If you're one of those mentions in this edition, curious if it's a pleasant feature, or makes you feel like you're under an itchy spotlight. Let me know!

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: “Kiwi vids YAAAS 🥝🐕” is valuable signal of where to re-invest :)

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