Surviving Christmas

 TALK TOOLBOX

🎄 High/Low/Whoa!

The day before Christmas — peak panic zone.
Forget last-minute shopping, this is a conversational minefield.

Office parties. Barely remembered relatives. Strangers hovering near the mince pies.
Awkward silence incoming in 3...2…1…

I borrowed this game (High/Low/Buffalo) from communication coach Vinh Giang and then tweaked it for my Japanese students (explaining 'buffalo' killed more conversations than it started.)

So, keep it in your back pocket for when conversations crash harder than your cousin after three eggnogs.

How it works:

First — ask permission.
“Fancy trying a quick conversation game I read about?” (feel free to add “from an amazing newsletter I get every week” 😉.)
Say it with energy. Make it playful. Go first. People will say yes.

Share three things:

• High — Something good (“I finally got a dog!”)

• Low — Something not so good (“Had my first vertigo attack. Awful.”)

• Whoa — Something unexpected (“I was in a Japanese TV ad.”)

That’s me.

✨The magic: You've now created six conversation threads (three you, three them.)
Pick one of theirs.
Don't bounce around like a coked-up kangaroo – focus!
Ask three follow-ups. Listen. Be curious.

Now they feel heard and will return the favour.

Voilà — connection.
Deeper than any chat you’ve had over prawn cocktails (“So…prawns, eh?)

💡 PRO TIP: Prep all your answers in advance (especially the “whoa”). Asking to play this and saying, “Err…you go first,” is conversational homicide.

⛔ DON'T SAY: Before you deploy High/Low/Whoa, know what topics to dodge. These have been done to death in 2025.

NEWS YOU CAN USE

Turn headlines into talking points.

🗣️ The Twelve Hooks of Christmas (plus one)

Sharing personal details makes you shudder with horror?
Time-poor but conversation-rich situations?

No problem.
You don’t have to talk about yourself.

Here's your 2025 “Whoa” collection — 12 stories that flew under the radar but make excellent party fodder. (100% Trump-free, because we’re absolutely sick of him.)

🤯 WTF Science

• Scientists made mosquitoes malaria-free and less murder-y. (Now do wasps.)

• Blind patients are having vision restored by “tooth-in-eye” surgery (yes, that’s right – tooth…in…eye…)

• Japanese scientists developed a new plastic that dissolves in seawater. (Finally, fish that tastes like Tupperware!)

🌍 Nature Is Not On Our Side

• Sharks are older than trees (respect your elders. And don’t swim in the sea.)

• Plants scream when stressed (your yucca is definitely plotting)

• World’s largest spider web discovered (110,000 reasons I’m not sleeping)

🏆 Humanity's Weird

• Kim Kardashian blamed ChatGPT for failing her law exam (AI: finally fighting back.)

• Marriage triples the risk of obesity in men – but not women (all that stress eating 😅)

• Ringo Starr says he’s never eaten pizza (All You Need Is Love. Not Domino’s.)

💰 Numbers That'll Make You Go, “Huh?”

• 51% of farm animals globally are shrimp (yup, I thought cows too.)

• Average investor researches for six minutes before buying stocks (that long! Explains my portfolio…)

• 817 million people live in extreme poverty — while billionaires race to space. (Not funny. Just important.)

👏 And finally, my fave…

• Hate needles? (YES!) Get ready for vaccine beer (maybe anti-vaxxers will think twice now?)

💡 PRO TIP: Don't info-dump all of them. Nobody wants to talk to a walking listicle. Pick one that fits the situation and ask follow-up questions.

💬 YOUR TURN: What’s your favourite? Let me know!

⛔ DON'T SAY: “I read this thing somewhere…” Own it. “Did you know sharks are older than trees?” lands way better.

FAMOUS WORDS

“There are three stages of life: you believe in Santa; you don't believe in Santa; you are Santa.”
(Bob Phillips, American journalist, 1951-2007)

🎬 Name the film

👇 Answer at the end of the issue.

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Save your seat

BECAUSE THE ROBOTS ARE COMING

⛄️ Olaf Lives!

Disney has unveiled a self-walking Olaf robot powered by heat management AI — so it doesn’t melt while wandering theme parks.

Kids will love it. Theme parks will copy it.

And the military will quietly take notes…

An autonomous, AI-powered, heat-resistant, self-navigating bot.
Does this sound familiar?

What could possibly go wrong?
(Calling John Conner…)

ANSWER

🎬 Answer: Bad Santa (2003)

A drunken conman posing as Santa robs malls each Christmas Eve, until he bonds with a kid who believes he's real.

🌎 Cultural Impact: Despite backlash from religious groups, the R-rated film grossed over $60 million domestically, proving audiences craved its sweary, anti-Christmas edge (the F-word is used over 150 times.)

🧠 Deep Dive: Jack Nicholson and Bill Murray both wanted to make it, but had other films.

💬 YOUR TURN: What’s your favourite Christmas film?

LAST WEEK

🗳 POLL: Should we build data centres in space?

A) 🌍 Yes! Keep Earth clean (and the billionaires busy) - 54%
B) 💸 No. Solve problems down here first - 46%
C) 🚀 Don't care — I'll be on the first rocket out - 0%

💬 Your Two Cents

B.A: “Seems like a good all-around idea, and it would solve one of the problems down here (hopefully), as it would eventually rid us of most of these ugly, power-hungry behemoths. Can't help feeling it will all cost us more though, while Musk laughs his way to the bank.”
S.Y: “Already an incredible amount of space debris…”

Haha! I feel your pain. 🏏

THIS IS THE END

That's it for #50.

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Life is too big for small talk