Fei found the Heartstopper graphic novel online. I’m excited to read it! She says it’s not as cheery as the show. We wish that we had access to content like this when we were growing up.

I am currently learning the mechanics of the pull-up. It’s led me down a rabbit hole. So far, I’ve saved a pdf of a training regimen that’s supposedly from the Marines. I guess that’s a more trustworthy source than something like… bodybuilding.com?

I am grateful for colleagues who care about things happening in the world beyond work; and meeting new neighbors who are friendly, have insider knowledge about the neighborhood and region, as well as share a guilty appreciation for trashy reality tv.

From now on, I think I will only buy coffee from Aldi or a specialty coffee shop. Aldi German roast 90% of the time, and a coffee shop 10% of the time, when I come across one. I don’t know the ins and outs of coffee, but I CAN taste when the beans are burnt reaaal bad.

We binged Heartstopper on Netflix, and I don’t think we’ve squealed so much during any other show (or anything else in life recently, for that matter).

Trying out pourover

I recently started getting into pourover coffee. For about 3 years now, I’ve been using the Aeropress with a Prismo filter attachment, which keeps the device sealed entirely (I wish I didn’t throw the original filter away, because now I can’t just let the coffee drip from the Aeropress).

Harvey told Fei about his setup from Seattle. He has really cool equipment. I know equipment is not everything, but dang, I now want a scale that has a built-in timer! How come I never thought of that? He also has an electric gooseneck kettle. By contrast, I’ve been pouring water from my regular kettle into a stovetop gooseneck kettle. It’s kind of inefficient, but I kind of wanted to try this thing out for fun first before dropping $$$ on better equipment.

So far I get why people do pourover. I’m sure there are myriad technical reasons that have to do with flavor profiles, total dissolved solids, and the ways in which varying degrees of kitchen luminance react with the grooves on the Hario V60 (lol, getting carried away). I myself like watching the coffee bloom. I feel like I’m running my own cafe. Just because I’m spending a few extra minutes pouring water at various intervals. I can’t just set it and forget it, like I do with the Aeropress.

I also like how Fei approaches pourover the same way she approaches cooking. I’ll call it, um, intuitive. She doesn’t mess with a scale. Just pours however much she feels like it. Ten minutes later, after straightening her hair, or whatever, the coffee will have cooled substantially. The ultimate result is that it always tastes underextracted… which is exactly how she likes her coffee!

Anyway, this little coffee corner takes up a ton of space relative to what else lives on the kitchen counter. Which is another reason to follow in Harvey’s footsteps and get some smarter equipment. Or, maybe set up a separate coffee bar cart of sorts behind the counter.

hario v60 on a counter

declaring my love for Fei

Did she threaten me with a chicken wing and a half to write this? Well, I didn’t say that.

A list of why she is amazing: - She has a way of making me smile just by looking at me. Especially if she’s mad. Especially if she’s mad about something related to this blog 👀 - she is a dedicated plant parent!! On our windowsill there are a dozen or so avocado seeds growing. She’ll find other seeds to grow too. The mango ones didn’t seem to grow but she is so persistent. I wish I could nurture that patience to start a lovely little plant family 💕 - She doesn’t want to admit it but she has a kind heart underneath her Aries exterior.

Decided to get back into morning pages, this time by hand. Wanted to find alternatives to staring at the screen all day for everything. It feels good!

Ways to walk away from the screen

I stare at the screen all day, and am curious about ways I can spend time away from the screen.

Here’s a quick brainstorm: - walking - knitting - meditating - reading - phoning a friend - set a “shutdown” time: no-screens after 7pm - take a long shower and just feel the water, be with my thoughts - yoga and stretching

What happens if I add a constraint to each of those?

  • walk for 20 minutes, but only make right turns
  • knit for 20 minutes, in a public place
  • meditate for 5 minutes, while doodling
  • read for 20 minutes, inside a fast food restaurant
  • phone a friend for 20 minutes, while cleaning
  • set a screen shutdown time, every other day
  • take a shower for 10 minutes, while brainstorming holiday gifts
  • stretch for 10 minutes, in bed

Winding down with Baldwin's Another Country

Last night I came back late from a gathering. I felt stimulated, and wanted to wind down my train of thoughts. For some reason I thought to re-read Another Country by James Baldwin. To my surprise, it worked. My eyes kept drifting away, my mind was floating to another country (ha). Possibly because the opening lines are about a man in tatters, himself drifting across the dark streets of New York City.

“He was facing Seventh Avenue, at Times Square. It was past midnight and he had been sitting in the movies, in the top row of the balcony, since two o’clock in the afternoon.”

It’s the kind of first line in a novel that makes you wonder.

AM thoughts: I think I get lost a lot in my dreams… asking people for directions… going some place familiar, yet marked by strange objects or scenes.

The strength of weak ties

Thinking about weak community ties vs. friendships.

I learned living in Lynchburg, VA that having frequent, boundaried interactions with strangers actually gives me a different kind of joy than from meeting with friends in NYC. Friends themselves are great, of course. I’m simply thinking that social contact can range from low intensity to high intensity, and it’s those lower intensity forms of social contact that I’ve found valuable, and often missing in my life. I had zero friends in Lynchburg but at times felt a bit more connected to the world. Maybe it was the novelty of experiencing a new place that made me more curious?

Taking breaks can actually be easy

I’ve found that on a hectic workday, I’ll contort myself into a turtle in a corner, not standing up to take a break, not looking away for 20 seconds, EVEN THOUGH I use Pomodoro timers. Found a solution that’s finally working for me: www.dejal.com/timeout/

I’ll see the Time Out break fade in, rather than interrupting my screen entirely, which may lower my resistance to taking a break.

Mental wellness doesn’t have to involve grand gestures. It can start with taking 15 seconds to stretch.