Reading time: 3.20 121 words Read this email in your browser Hey Reader, The biggest lesson I learned from jetting off to Antigua for four days is this: When an opportunity pops up, grab it with both hands and say thank you. My friend is cabin crew for BA, and he offered me a trip as his guest. Or as a “cling-on” as we’re called — friends and family who sponge off crew for an extremely cheap flight and basically free room. It was short notice. I had to rearrange a bunch of stuff. Of COURSE I...
1 day ago • 2 min read
Reading time: 4.57 1,176 words Read this email in your browser Hey Reader, Rejected by an entire herd of cows Yesterday, I was rejected by an entire herd of cows. As rejections go, this one was particularly painful because I am a friend of the moos. I’m vegetarian. I don’t drink milk (because it’s gross and the dairy industry is also gross). I only wear leather where it’s vintage or a genuine byproduct of the beef industry (and NEVER in front of them how RUDE). I always stop for a...
13 days ago • 5 min read
Reading time: 1.42 403 words Read this email in your browser Hey Reader, An email landed in my inbox a couple of weeks ago that left me truly shooketh. Mark Manson said, “Of your 80-ish years alive, only 15 are truly yours.” He went on to list them: “Sleeping — 27 years Working — 11 years Cooking and eating — 6 years Commuting or stuck in traffic — 5 years Running errands and doing administrative BS — 4 years Personal care and household chores — 3 years Being an infant or toddler — 3 years...
14 days ago • 2 min read
Reading time: 1.23 332 words Read this email in your browser Hey Reader, Saw the phrase “scream if you want to go faster” in action on Saturday. It works. I had a really good sprint on for the final stretch at parkrun. Glided (glode?) past three other runners, feeling smug. Not even dying too much. Ready to overtake the last woman before the finish line, I sped up a little more… when she let out the most almighty bellow NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! That doesn’t do the...
15 days ago • 2 min read
STRAP IN! I wrote you an essay… Reading time: 11.07 2,643 words Read this email in your browser Hey Reader, Why reaching for Claude will cost you more than you can imagine A growing number of influential people are yelling at us to stop talking about AI online. Stop yammering. Stop complaining. Just let people do what they want to do. Celebrities like Reese Witherspoon (oh Reese, I’m so disappointed) are piping up and telling women that we must adopt AI or we’ll be left behind. (Please, leave...
16 days ago • 11 min read
Reading time: 2.04 490 words Read this email in your browser Hey Reader, I’m a bit worried this makes me a bit of a wanker, but… I think I’m kinda LinkedIn famous!!! Friday night, under the neon lights of the bar, as I peered anxiously into Joe’s face asking him repeatedly, “Was my set okay? Was I funny? DID EVERYONE HATE ME???” and for the seventh time he said, “YOU WERE GREAT CALM DOWN,” there was a tap on my shoulder. “Excuse me,” said the best-dressed woman in the room, “but you ARE Vicky...
17 days ago • 2 min read
Reading time: 4.33 1.079 words Read this email in your browser Hey Reader, It’s actually really easy to change things. Not the huge things, like stopping orange tyrants from making wars or reversing climate change overnight. But the small things that lead to the big things — it’s really easy to change those. Like, people are sad and angry and scared, and that makes them want to blame other people for stuff that’s not other people’s fault, and then more people are sad and scared, and so it...
20 days ago • 5 min read
Reading time: 2.15 532 words Read this email in your browser Hey Reader, George Saunders calls it The Gulp: “the exciting but harrowing period in the publication of a book when, with the writing all done… the waiting-to-see begins. Will people read it? Will they like it?” Before they start, everyone thinks that writing the book is the hardest part. And it is hard. But that’s nothing compared to the moment when you strip yourself naked, cover yourself in maple syrup, and offer yourself up to...
21 days ago • 3 min read
Reading time: 3.14 766 words Read this email in your browser Hey Reader, Halfway up Cader Idris, I ran out of everything: energy, patience, my breakfast, and the ability to form any coherent thoughts to solve the problem in front of me. The problem was that I hadn’t eaten enough breakfast and I hadn’t brought enough proper food and I really hadn’t thought the whole thing through. Good job my base level of fitness was high, ey? I stopped for a moment and considered: I could turn around and go...
22 days ago • 3 min read