Sweater weather in 2021
Noting This Down: #22: 03/01/2021
Hi lovely friends,
2021 began with us in Singapore enjoying our version of sweater (jumper?) weather. More rain fell in Singapore on January 1st alone than the previous average for the entire month of January. For a country usually bathed in sweltering heat, hitting temperatures of 20 degrees and being able to wear sweaters without sweating is a big deal.
I find the turn of the year moment fascinating. A new year usually means prime opportunity to “new year, new me”, right? Maybe some of us think that a new year is the moment to hit the hard reset button and start afresh. Or we hold onto the new year as the moment to execute the thing that we’re waiting for more time to do.
Maybe it’s like an athlete at the start line of a race. You’re anxious with anticipation of how this race will turn out. I think of the first few days of the new year to set the tone and direction for the months ahead.
Either way, I hope the first few days of the new year has been treating you well. :)
🆕 What’s new:
My 2020 wrap-up, a curated list of things that resonated this year: First time using Instagram’s Guides feature and I love how you can curate both posts from your own profile and posts you’ve saved. I’ve created a mix of things that resonated with me this year; quotes, illustrations and of course, bookish highlights. Almost like a mixtape in its ordered randomness.
Binged The Poppy War series in the final two weeks of the year. I’ve not been enthralled by a single fantasy series to this extent in a while. It’s the kind where reading (briefly) takes over your life, you are fixated to the pages and 100% invested in the plot and characters. Felt like I was hiding underneath my blankets with a flashlight reading into the wee hours of the night. Read my initial thoughts (spoiler-free) in these Instagram posts.
💡 Awesome things I learned and found this week:
BTS and the Future of the Fan Economy: A mammoth series on Korean group BTS and how their fans propelled them to extraordinary success. I’m not a BTS fan by a mile, but this sheds light on our relationship with our musical icons. Expect to have your mind blown; with insights on the fan economy, engagement and the music business redefining the psychological intimacy and connection between creator and audience. Lots of fascinating insights here.
Southeast Asian artists reflect on 2020: It’s easy to think of 2020 as a series of moments, tragic statistics and anxiety. I often forget the scale of human impact caused by the dramatic shifts in our institutions (inequalities, navigating loss, capitalism). Having these emotions and events captured in art makes these moments more tangible.
Tune into the sounds of different forests from around the world with Tree.fm: Stuck at home and don’t have a forest or nature reserve nearby? Indulge in some digital forest bathing here, or shinrin-yoku. Shinrin in Japanese means “forest,” and yoku means “bath.” So shinrin-yoku means bathing in the forest atmosphere, or taking in the forest through our senses.
📘 Resources to create or think better:
Lose the very: This one is for my fellow writers. Trying to find a word that’s more concise and vivid than “very __”? There’s a tool to help you out.
Airbnb’s Another Lens poses a set of questions to help you balance bias in your creative projects, consider an opposite point of view and embrace a growth mindset.
One second everyday: Stumbled upon this nifty free app that stitches together seconds from your life to turn it into a movie of your year. Lovely concept! Think of it like a simple journal, but in a more interactive form. I’ve started my own to remember the mundane moments of my daily life.
💬 Quotes I’m thinking about
Put this here to remind myself that the turn of a new year doesn’t mean you’ll magically gain super strength to tackle your challenges from 2020.
There is a downside to reading too much:Yes, having ‘too much to read’ is first world problem galore, but I also identify with this feeling (what does this say about me ><). Especially if you read a lot of non-fiction, there is a tendency to get sucked into the infinite vortex of limitless information and ideas.
“I miss the days when the most risqué part of reading was hiding under the covers immersed in a fantasy book with a flashlight. How did this activity morph into this competition of consuming and synthesizing all of the world’s ideas? It could be that globalization has raised the collective stakes for knowledge workers. I can’t speak for the others in this post, but for me it’s more – a bizarre cocktail of insecurity around identity, achievement and success.
The downside of reading too much: RadReads:
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