Issue #4 · Ready, FIRE!, Aim

November 20, 2022: Greetings from the cozy living room of my brother’s apartment in the boogie down Bronx! I’m squatting in his guest bedroom for the next ten days given that the World Cup began today, and he has an 80” television in his living room (oh, and to spend some quality time with family over Thanksgiving, I guess).

At the end of the month, I’m headed down to Mexico — after living in the hectic Big Apple for the past eight weeks, I couldn’t be more ready for the chilled out pace of life in my favorite place on earth: Puerto Escondido (plus it’s cold AF here, and I decidedly don’t do winter).

So you're probably wondering why I've gathered you all here today.

During the past year, I’ve been haphazardly writing personal essays, mostly self-reflective pieces about my wacky nomadic lifestyle. I’ve since decided to formalize things by starting this newsletter as a way to [1] keep me accountable to write more often, [2] ramble and riff on less substantial topics that don’t warrant their own full-blown essay, and [3] provide answers to the “where in the world is Emily Sandiego?” question that I'm regularly asked.

This will certainly evolve over time (even the name Extracurricular Pursuits is a working title, though it's really starting to grow on me). I’m definitely taking a “ready, FIRE!, aim” approach here — I literally only thought of the idea to create a newsletter about 72 hours ago.

But that's because I’m trying to embrace the learning by doing phenomenon — rather than sitting around waiting until I feel 100% ready, I'm hitting send and figuring the rest out as I go. Ignoring the circus that has been Twitter as of late, @marc_louvion summed it up best:

So here we are. I’m cheating a bit, as this was sort of an introductory warm-up issue. But next time, I promise to share something that I’ve been ruminating on for a while and am finally putting into words: the benefit of seeking out hobbies as an adult.

Okay, I’ve already said too much — you’ll just have to wait for another love note to appear in your inbox in a few days (hooray for accountability!) 💌

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PS: I’d love to hear what you thought about this post. If this landed in your inbox, just hit reply! Or if you’re reading this online, send me an email at [email protected] and I pinky promise I’ll reply back.

Here’s a list of every issue if you want to keep reading!

• Issue #16: Embracing the Blank Canvas [Sep 2023]

• Issue #15: In Pursuit of an Endless Summer [Aug 2023]

• Issue #14: Follow Me to Weird Places [Jul 2023]

• Issue #13: Self-Inflicted Social Overload [Jul 2023]

• Issue #12: Schlepping It 🎒 [Jun 2023]

• Issue #11: Finding My “Next Thing” [Jun 2023]

• Issue #10: Book the Damn Flight and Just Go [May 2023]

• Issue #9: Choosing Your Own Life Adventure [May 2023]

• Issue #8: Eat, Sleep, Write, Repeat [May 2023]

• Issue #7: My First Month of Indie Making: An Honest Review [Feb 2023]

• Issue #6: Ten Years of Making Money on the Internet [Jan 2023]

• Issue #5: The Modern-Day Mission Trip [Dec 2022]

• Issue #4: Ready, FIRE!, Aim [Nov 2022]

• Issue #3: A New City Every Month: An Experiment in Change [Aug 2022]

• Issue #2: Defining My North Star as a Nomad [Dec 2021]

• Issue #1: One Year on the Road: Looking Back [Oct 2021]