The little things? The little moments? —They Aren’t little.

Favourites, qoute on little things, journaling prompt on reflection and mini-interview ft. Jamal Robinson.

Friday, 1st November, 2024

Yet one less weekend has left in 2024, and I’m already pissed by the amount of New Year Memes in my feed_ It feels like tomorrow when I celebrated New-Year.

Stop it . Please.

how it feels like tomorrow is beyond me.

I mean, I’m well aware of holiday paradox and the science behind it.

but honestly an entire year feels too long for not having enough Nobel experiences, which in theory makes time feel slow to you when you look back.

The little things? The little moments? —They Aren’t little.

~John Zabat-Zinn

💖 This Week’s Favourite.

📔Book; The Elements of Eloquence By Mark Forsyth; If you want your writing to memorable and quotable then you can’t miss this book, even in your dreams. It explains a technique called, Rhetorical Devices Aka Poetic Devices which is so easy to use but still is massively underused. And Trust me we only learned the most boring poetic devices in school which are the only ones overused, plus this book is overly hilarious.

🎧Song: Before You Go: Not that I discovered the song this week but it’s actually what I’m listening right now and it’s the only song that has made me cry so I thought I should share it with you guys in case you are missing out on this amazing masterpiece.

📘 Book; Shoe Dog by Phil Knight (founder of Nike); If you know me at all you would know that I’m a Sucker for a good Memoir that are authentic and aren’t filled with self praise which is very rare but on the very first page I knew this book is exactly what I wanted, turns out I was right. A college graduate wanting to travel the world and has this “crazy idea” about something. Hell yeah!!!!! that’s what I like to read.

🎧 Podcast: DOAC ft. Noah Harari: There is too much noise about how Ai is going to change the world but this conversation really painted the picture perfectly for me. How the jobs going to look like, how democracies can potentially fall apart due to Ai and especially how misalignment can cause various problems, like with social media algorithms whose purpose was to increase user engagement, so the algorithm flooded the feeds hate, fear, greedy content which generated most engagement.

✍️Ask Yourself.

What Problem I’m Facing today that I once begged to have.

Mini-Interview, Ft

Jamal Robinson

HOW DO YOU APPROACH "STRUGGLES OF CREATIVITY"?

Jamal Robinson: My biggest creative struggle at the moment is my desire to try new things on an almost weekly basis. One part of me wants to have a “thing” – something my readers can expect each time they open an email from me. But, honestly, I just want to experiment. So that’s what I’m doing. 

WHAT INSPIRED THE FOUND NOTES FORMAT?

Jamal Robinson: My Found Notes format is a culmination of three discoveries coming together rather serendipitously.

First, I stumbled onto the Notes section of Substack after about two months of writing my newsletter.

Next, I discovered that there were tons of other amazing writers using Substack.

Finally, I learned about Found Poetry from Austin Kleon. My found notes came about from a desire to show love for the beautiful words of others, which is why I highlight rather than blackout text, while also practicing the craft of found poetry.

WHAT BOOK HAS INFLUENCED YOU THE MOST?

Jamal Robinson: Right now I am steeping myself in “The Prophet” by Kahlil Gibran. It’s a relatively short read but the poetic prose is so rich that I find it necessary to pause after a couple of pages to reflect on the wisdom shared by the author.

ONE THING ABOUT YOU WE CAN'T GUESS FROM YOUR SUBSTACK.

Jamal Robinson: One thing others would guess about me from my newsletter is that I LOVE anime. The hero's journey is my favorite story type and I find the way it is depicted in Japanese cartoons to be truly wonderful.

End of interview.

Hi Abd Sid Here👋, What you just read was first issue of a series I’m plaining to do here on notes called “mini-interview”, and It was my honor to feature my favourite writer

Jamal Robinson on substack in the very first issue.

I honestly have no idea what to expect, I’m optimistic of-course but I’m equally skeptical, the whole idea of mini-interview’s success seems like to good to be true. But here we are.