Hi!
A very thorough and almost exhaustive HA from where I left off. I will officially return the first week of February!
Homosexual Agenda:
Didn’t realize I was such a Sza fan. Fave tracks: Kill Bill, Seek & Destroy, Low, Blind, Ghost in the Machine, Nobody Gets Me, Conceited, Shirt, Forgiveness.
It has occurred to me that Boxing Day is not universal. Day 26: Who Doesn’t Need an Extra Holiday? at The NYT.
My goal this year is to veganize Molly Baz’s tuna melt. Highly suggest not watching while peckish mid-afternoon.
No one tells you in your 30s that all you’ll be doing is playing boardgames and having tums after every meal. Honestly, it’s fine.
New fitness equipment courtesy of Daniel: pull up bar and a 20 lb weight. My body now feels like jello.
The White Lotus season 2 gave us a lot of unanswered questions that were left for the viewer to speculate. Watched it entirely for Will Sharpe and Aubrey Plaza. I really didn’t enjoy Tanya talking about the gays trying to kill her because it was too much trying to be viral.
More TV: You (S2), actually good and suspenseful - 7/10. The Staircase: it was fine and 5 episodes too long and was explored to death on all mediums - 6/10. Really only watched it for Toni Colette.
The teaser for Scream 6. The movie is expected to have more gore and I might have to pass even though Scream is my favourite scary movie. Honestly, I’ll probably see it in theatres anyway.
Went to purchase Kelela tickets only to find it sold out. The first time I thought about it there were tickets and then the second time I was about to purchase them they then sold out. Life is annoying.
How a Nepo Baby Is Born at Vulture. I am sure you already read this and concluded the obvious.
I’m Determined to Mix My Friend Groups at The Cut. Or, like myself, try poaching.
Really championing alternative leathers that aren’t plastic derivatives. Are Mushrooms the Future of Alternative Leather? at The NYT.
Inside The World's Highest Apartment at AD. I stand firm that generally any home over $20M is ugly, tacky, gaudy, et al.
Emily in Paris season 3 was boring. So boring in fact that I was doing other things while watching the show. That scene where they played Bruno Mars. Cringe. The person managing the score should be fired.
The podcast I was listening to while doing laundry over the holidays. Capitalism coming for your mental health is just another libertarian agenda.
The New Case for Social Climbing at The Atlantic. You heard it here first: “Meritocracy is make-believe”.
For further reading about work, Yes, Your Job Is Important. But It’s Not All-Important at The New York Times by Roxanne Gay. My number one rule when meeting new people is to never ask them about work unless it happens organically. And with friends, work talk is limited to one minute. Because I don’t care what people do for work, I care about a person’s ethics and values.
More work stuff: I hate to report that over the holidays I have been enamoured with YouTube Shorts. And I discovered @lowhaley who can facetiously set work boundaries.
One last thing: Job interviews are a nightmare — and only getting worse at Vox. Why did I decide to pursue the tech industry :(
A really good bottle of wine and only $24:
I really did watch all 15 minutes and 10 seconds of this. Buy me some land and I will build a sanctuary for plants and animals.
Made a new friend and cruised his Grindr account. Nothing has changed and I fear for my community.
I got the Pixel Buds A and I will say wireless ear buds are a game changer and a scam. I love the convenience and hate that I don’t have the right to repair. By that I mean replacing the batteries.
One of my favourite interiors: Atrium at Bay. There’s a Muji in there and I bought a shirt.
Further reading: Your stuff is actually worse now at Vox. Uniqlo is honestly getting worse as we speak.
My friend Simone sent me The Drift magazine and these chocolates which I hid from Daniel because they were soooo good.
This cover of Caroline Polachek is unhinged. Lol. Once you click it you can’t unhear/see it. The original here.
LOVE the The 7-Day Happiness Challenge at The NYT. As studies have shown, it’s not material things that a capitalist society has argued is what makes us happy, but interpersonal relationships. My goal this year is to maintain my current friendships and start new ones.
Finally, my new year outfit which is really just a shirt I love and will wear until there’s holes in it. However, I added beads, which, fancy?
I might have to change the structure and output of my newsletter to focus on my career. Ugh, I hate that I just said that.
Thanks for reading,
Perry