Targeted ad of the year award goes to this lot who just advertised at me, the bloke moving his family to Mexico tomorrow
Self portrait of a tired and weary man who isn’t working for the next six weeks
“Could eating salmon, cod, tuna, herring or sardines keep our brains healthy and our thinking agile in middle age? New research makes this connection.”
I’ll take some salmon, tuna, and a nap thx.
Freya Stark:
“There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do.”
Three days til the Mexican sabbatical.
14 years of the best job in the world
It was kind of fitting for one of my last weddings before we head to Mexico to be at Weddings at Tiffany’s. One of my first was there as well, and it’s one of my most memorable weddings because of how the groom thanked and encouraged me after the ceremony.
He said “I thought you were going to be a really shit celebrant, but you were awesome!”
Over the last 14 years I hope I’ve equally positively surprised you with my “me-ness” whilst also been a solid rock you can rely on when you get married. It has been, and will be, such an honour to hold that moment for you, I’ve never taken it for granted. That’s why we’re taking this sabbatical, because I’d like to do this celebrant thing forever.
A guest at yesterday’s wedding is still upset she couldn’t book me for her wedding six years ago because I was booked then, and I’m getting similar vibes from people emailing about 2023 weddings at the moment.
I’ll be back - especially for tomorrow’s wedding at Sanctuary Cove, and the couples I’m coming back from Mexico to marry in November/December - but trust me when I say I don’t think I could carry on marrying people next year after the last three without something breaking, so we’re taking the courageous act of taking a break instead of being forced into one.
People always say this about their own job, but I know they’re lying, because I have the best job in the world. Thank you for giving it to me.
This is so bizarre and weird to listen to: AI-generated Joe Rogan interviews AI-generated Steve Jobs. By podcast.ai.
“Your audience is just so different to the normal Apple user”
Finally found the band for me
Tim Burrowes reports on Rupert Murdoch’s “remarkable” 70-year career in the media:
He created a newspaper empire which has shaped the culture of the English speaking world.
He made newspaper paywalls work when nobody else thought he would succeed.
He saw streaming coming and sold most of his TV and film interests to Disney at the top of the market.
I personally find the influence of News Corp and the Murdochs disgusting and intolerable, yet I can also look at that 70-year body of work and say it’s remarkable, amazing and will most likely never be repeated in a similar scale. Which is most likely a good thing.
The world is starting to reflect on 2020-2022 and what everyone did, and how we reacted, and I’m not reading many pieces that are all in with their support.
This is from Dr Raya Leibowitz, Israeli oncologist, a scientist (MD/PhD) and the head of a medium-sized oncology institute in Israel:
“I am writing so not to forget the response of governments and societies to the COVID-19 pandemic over the last 2.5 years; responses that were, for me and many others, dystopian. During this time, Israeli society, as I knew it, has dramatically changed for the worse.”
The thing I’m most interested in is how I even feel hesitant to share this piece because of the negative feedback I receive from my community for not being all-in on the response to the pandemic.
The article is a personal story of a doctor who held not-so-mainstream views and how her community rejected her. If the net effect of Covid is that you’re alive but living with division in community, living with fear and hatred of others, I think I’d rather be dead.
I could quote Robin Rendle’s post, ‘Take Care Of Your Blog’ forever:
“There will be blog posts that you adore that no one reads and there’ll be blog posts you spit out in ten minutes that take the internet by storm.”
We're off to Mexico and how we can stay in contact, a manifesto
My anxiety is of the opinion that none of you really care about me, contacting me or enjoying our family travels, if that’s so, please cease reading and thank you for confirming my deepest fears and anxieties. But, if you do wish to stay in contact with me and enjoy our photos and stories of lands far away, I have four notes for you:
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Every email address you have for me is wrong unless it is my name then an @ symbol then my last name, finishing with a .co … delete all other addresses from your address book or contacts app. Email remains my personal favourite place to communicate, please email whenever and whatever you like.
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If you must instant message with, or call, me I would prefer for it to happen on iMessage or FaceTime, contacting me with the same email address. If you refuse the beauty and glory of the apple ecosystem I am unsure how we can stay in contact. WhatsApp is ugly, Telegram is full of Russian spam, none of you use the Signal app, plus it’s linked to my phone number which I’ll get to in point three.
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My phone number will be trashed, and in the future, I’ll have other phone numbers that I’d prefer to not have to keep any longer than internet access is required. I wish to de-link myself from phone numbers in general but the world seems to think they are important.
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Although I am often tempted to post and share on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and whatever is hot online, my heart longs for a time when we take control of the stories we read, when we personally decide what we get angry or happy about. So my contribution to this effort is to write, photograph, publish, and share on my own personal blog joshwithers.blog … there’s also a weekly digest of what’s been published there and you can get it by visiting at joshwithers.blog/subscribe to subscribe.
If you wish to engage in the same kind of blogging I am, I can highly recommend micro.blog.
I publish, photograph, write, broadcast and share online to satisfy something inside of me that wants to contribute to the fabric of our society, to the story of our generation, and this is me doing that. If you think that’s a bit weird, you’ll love my blog.
Six days to Mexico.
“We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”
- Scholar, Joseph Campbell
Making wedding photos today
50 ways to be ridiculously generous—and feel ridiculously good by Alexandra Franzen.
- If you have a colleague who is self-employed, encourage them to charge more. Tell them, “You provide incredible value. You deserve to be paid what you’re worth. I think you should raise your rates. If that’s something you want to do—I’d love to help you do it.” If they’re open to it, help them brainstorm, strategize, and figure out a plan to roll out the new (higher) pricing.
Rules for Online Sanity
Becoming a dad shrinks your brain. I’m not mad, I’m just stupid.
Nine days until we migrate to Mexico, a country Britt and I have never been
Andrzej Stasiuk:
“It is good to come to a country you know practically nothing about.
Your thoughts grow still, useless.
In a country you know nothing about, there is no reference point. You struggle to associate colors, smells, dim memories.
You live a little like a child, or an animal.”
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but despite their ads this week, Optus wasn’t attacked.
They left the front door open and unlocked and a thief took the personal identity information of thousands of Australians.