Mappy August!
1611-day-streek on Duolingo / Sleep Better / Chat GPT Riddles / Free Travel / Slow Down Time / Acroyoga Therapy / Shop Smarter / Alma's Not Normal / Opuntia Juice / US Congress UFO Hearing
New on MappyEverAfter: The hubby’s 7-year French-learning odyssey
From the Mappy Archive: Get Your Best Sleep
AI Shenanigans: See if you can guess these Chat GPT Riddles
Travel: We collect points, Volunteer, and House-Sit to Travel for Free
Health: Try Acroyoga Therapeutic Flying
Money: Vote with your dollar (but don’t get “green-washed”): Socially Responsible Companies
Watch: A British sitcom Alma’s Not Normal
A Thing of Beauty: The incredible color of Opuntia juice
Mental Hack: How to Slow Down Time
Just Because: Footage from the US Congress UFO hearing
Note: I will always tell you if I’m getting any referral bonuses and how much they are. There aren’t any in this letter
New on MappyEverAfter.com - Mark’s 7-year French-learning Oddysey
Mark, the hubby, has a love (obsession?) for France and, after many visits, he decided it’s time to learn the language. At home. Alone. With apps. This is the story of his 1611-day, love/hate streek on Duolingo, trial, failure, and comparing many other learning methods.
From the Mappy Archives - Get Your Best Sleep
I've tried many types of polyphasic sleeping schedules with varied degrees of success (and craziness). My goal was to minimize the time I spent in bed. Then I tried a protocol to train myself to sleep better, not shorter, using methods recommended by sleep science: MappyEverAfter.com/get-your-best-sleep/
AI Shenanigans - I asked Chat GPT for Riddles
Chat GPT (the AI language model, in case you’ve been off the grid for the past few months) is getting smarter by the minute.
I asked it to write short riddles about modern-day conveniences. I’ll give you 3. Write down your answers and check them at the very bottom of this letter (after the picture quote) to find out if you were right:
1)
A whirling tempest, a sprite of the home,
A hum and a rumble, wherever it roams.
Consuming unseen, a curious art,
Nature yields to its suctioning heart.
2)
A silent messenger, through unseen air,
Words take flight, bound beyond compare.
Bearing thoughts like wind through space,
Invisibly weaving a distant embrace.
3)
A silent shift, wealth's hidden trail,
Digits traverse, a commerce's sail.
Moving fortunes in quiet grace,
In unseen currents, it finds its place.
Travel - The Many Ways to Travel (almost) for Free
I wanted to take 6 months off work to travel. To my astonishment, a few weeks into our trip to Asia I realized that you can travel almost for free, and decided not to go back after the 6 months were over (and still haven’t, after 7 years). Even though I liked my job, I like traveling much better 😊🌍
First on the list is travel hacking with US credit card points. They took us a couple of years to accumulate and, using points, round-the-world flights cost us only a couple of hundred dollars total in airline taxes.
We volunteer. In Laos through Workaway - for half a day of work, we got free room and board, and dove much deeper into the culture than if we were just tourists. Psychedelic Science 2023 conference in Denver - a $800 entry ticket for free, and what an incredible experience! At Best Friends Animal Sanctuary - all the furry cuddles one can take! You can volunteer almost anywhere you go.
We house-sit through Trusted Housesitters. We stayed in some beautiful homes and met some beautiful people and pets.
Couchsurfing is another great option, although so far we’ve only been hosts, not guests.
We stayed with many friends and family (like in my Australia and New Zealand stories) and those were some of our favorite times.
Some countries are just so affordable that Westerners almost feel like they’re traveling for free. We stayed in Thailand for $7 a night (and that’s for both of us, not each) and took a 500-mile (800km) bus ride for $17 in Vietnam.
Health - Try Therapeutic Flying with Acroyoga
Acroyoga is, by far, my favorite form of movement. I’m hesitant to call it “exercise” because it’s so much fun. Before my local place closed, I used to get a monthly pass and take a class almost every day. One of my favorites was Acropeutics - think yoga, acrobatics, and Thai massage rolled into one. Try to find a class to learn the basics.
Money - Vote with your dollar: Buy from Socially Responsible Companies (but don’t get green-washed)
There’s an overwhelming sea of information if you want to research and fact-check companies and their products before you buy something.
The Better World Shopper website, recommended by the amazing climber (and Vegas resident) Alex Honnold, piqued my interest. I find its search feature a bit clunky but it's a great resource to kick-start your decision-making.
You might often find five shampoo bottles on the store shelf, all priced almost the same, but only one comes from a company that aligns with the BWS website’s ethical standards. While I still do my own research, this makes it much faster.
Watch - Alma’s Not Normal
I love "Alma's Not Normal"! It’s a well-acted, semi-autobiographical (remember that fact as you watch!) British Sitcom that revolves around the life of Alma Nuthatch, a lovably quirky and down-to-earth woman living in Bolton, Greater Manchester. As the title suggests, Alma isn't exactly ordinary, and you get a hilarious and honest look at her attempts to figure out life.
It’s a bitch to find though, try iPlayer or Britbox.
A Thing of Beauty: Opuntia (prickly pear) juice
Look at that color! #nofilter
I got some prickly pear fruits (opuntia), peeled them, blended them with a bit of water into a smooth puree, and strained out the seeds. The result is this gorgeous bright juice with a lovely combination of watermelon and tart strawberry flavors. Makes a great mixer for cocktails as well 🍹
Mental Hack: Slow Down Time
Remember those endless summers when you were a kid? Would you like time to go that slowly again? Dr. David Eagleman, neuroscientist and researcher of time perception, says it's doable.
As kids, we experience many "firsts” and novelty lays down so many fresh memories that it makes time seem longer in retrospect. If you want to keep this magic trick going, you need a lot of memory footage to draw on.
Your “firsts” become rare as you get older - you’ve done it all before. Luckily, there are other ways:
Shake Things Up: Wear your watch on the "wrong" side, brush your teeth with your non-dominant hand, take new routes everywhere you go, try new foods, talk to strangers.
Meditate: If you live in reaction mode, you feel like you’re chasing time. Build some slack into your day to meditate; you’ll restore your ability to pay acute attention, which, in turn, amplifies your memory-making power.
Add Adventure, Surprise, and Awe: Travel is my favorite way to do this. Exploring vastly different places fills you with so many memories that a year seems to stretch on forever.
Just Because - US Congress UFO Hearing
Grab your tin-foil hat and have a look at the recent congressional hearing on UFOs (or UAPs, as they now call them - Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena). A Former Navy commander, a Navy pilot, and an Intelligence officer, all three under oath, spilled secrets about “non-human biologics”, reverse-engineering alien spaceships, "misappropriation of funds", and hiding the facts from the public. 🛸👽
So there you have it. Hope you’re having a sunny, lazy, and playful August (or a cozy, cuddly, bundled-up one South of the equator)!
Be Mappy,
Mags
Here are the answers to the AI riddles:
Vacuum cleaner
Email
Bank money transfer
Pretty clever, right?