The podcast I’m listening to

Am I Normal? This podcast answers seemingly mundane, or sometimes straight up weird, questions through diving into the actual numbers and talking to experts. My favourite episode is “How many friends do I need” - they interviewed evolutionary and social psychologists to try to work out the exact number of friends you need to have.

Unfortunately, they changed podcast hosts in 2021 and their episodes are not as good anymore. But from time to time I like to relisten to their old episodes.

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The Future of Everything is also really good! As part of our work in the Futures pod, we’re always on the lookout for cool trends and macro shifts that will shape our world in the coming decades. My favourite episode is “Are Personal Pigs The Future of Human Medicine?”. The episode explores how scientists today are working on genetically engineering pigs to help predict the progression of a disease, or serve as an organ donor for those who need a transplant. What this means for our future is that personal pigs, genetically modified to match our own, could one day become key to truly personalised medicine.

The last thing I bought and loved

My iPad, the Procreate app, and my apple pencil! The purchase that got me more serious with design and illustrating.

The thing I cannot go on holiday without

A good felt tip marker and my notebook. If I’m not on a short trip with a packed schedule, I like to take the time to rest somewhere comfy, like by the beach, a nice cafe and just sketch what I saw that day!

I’ve recently discovered

That you can milk a cockroach. And the substance is supposedly even more nutritious than any animal milk. You really come across a lot of weird (and innovative) things when working in the Futures pod!

I daydream of travelling (back) to

London. I’ve not been back since graduating and I’m looking forward to going back and revisiting the cafes I used to frequent, catching up with old friends and just reminiscing about the past.

A sport I’m secretly good at is

Lawn bowling… Before you say anything, yes, it’s a grandma sport and I was way too young to be playing. But my mum was a big fan of the sport so she somehow managed to convince me to train for 4 whole years. At one point I was competing with the goal of making it onto the national team.

My proudest achievement is

Winning a national art award in middle school. I used to be an art enthusiast and being able to showcase my creative flair and be recognised for it was a major accomplishment for me. But what made it even more special was the prize that came along with it - a full sponsorship to visit the Venice Biennale exhibition in Italy. It was my first time travelling so far away from home without my family and it felt so surreal visiting world-renowned artworks in person.

My ideal pet would be

My ideal pet would be large-sized, has a pretty black coat, and looks fierce but is a cinnamon roll.

I am most looking forward to

My next travel, wherever that may be.