June 10th, 2025. From home in Vancouver, BC.
The past few months were full of challenges, but they also came with The past few months were filled with challenges, but they also taught me valuable lessons that I’m grateful to carry forward.
I’ve cut down my news consumption to a ridiculous degree—and I feel great about it. I was lucky enough to visit Japan for a second time, and honestly, I could go back again. I’m still working through some of the photos I took there.
Right now, I’m planning my next photo walk (I’ll announce it in my newsletter this weekend) and organizing a regular meetup for photo enthusiasts in Vancouver. I’m also trying to soak up as much sun as possible—fully expecting to start complaining about the heat in a few weeks.
“Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion,
We must set ourselves on fire“
- Anonymous internet find
Photography
Currently processing photos from the trip to Japan and spending as much time outside with my camera enjoying the warm weather. I’m amazed at the new Fujifilm iPhone app, the previous incarnation was horrendous, this one works perfectly. Also learned that you can change the bluetooth setting on the camera to use 5 ghz bluetooth instead of 2.4 or whatever. Why does Fuji set it at the slower speed as default? Also, with the bright sunny weather I’m enjoying the photography of James Popsys, who I recommend you follow on YouTube as well as Instagram. YouTube Link
Media Diet
Listening
Podcast: The Rich Roll Podcast — Rich is an ultra-endurance athlete with a really interesting life story. His guests are mostly in the health and wellness space. I just listened to it for the first time because his guest was Craig Mod, an author and photographer living in Japan, who has a fantastic life story. Episode link here.
Music: A mix of my usual indie discovery playlists, along with the usual ’80s tunes — lately featuring a lot of hair bands. 🤘🏻
Reading
Reading Tiago Forte’s book Building a Second Brain. Tiago is the creator of the PARA method for managing projects and information.
I’m also constantly refreshing the Libby app to see if I’ve moved up in the queue for The Gift by Lewis Hyde — a book for artists and creatives that one online blurb describes as:
“In a climate where we know the price of everything and the value of nothing, Lewis Hyde offers us an account of those few, essential aspects of human experience that transcend commodity…. A manifesto of sorts for anyone who makes art, cares for it and understands that our most precious possessions are not for sale.”
Watching
So much to watch these days! Highlights include Andor on Disney+ — hands down the best Star Wars series so far. Everything about it is perfect: the story, acting, production… everything. Even if you’re not a Star Wars fan, I can’t recommend it enough.
For something lighter, I’m really enjoying the new series Murderbot on Apple TV+. I’ve read the books, which are super fun. Murderbot’s humor is hilarious, and the TV adaptation is very good.
On the flip side, I’m bummed to report that I didn’t enjoy the second season of The Last of Us (on Crave in Canada). It was sloooooow and felt like a completely different show from the first season. The more episodes I watched, the more frustrated I got.
As for movies, the last Mission: Impossible was…okay. The stunts were, as always, insane — but at nearly three hours, it was a bladder-busting experience that felt way too long and with not a lot of substance.
