Tank and the Bangas
In my dad era, I don’t get to go out to see live music too often. That’s made me get a little too precious about the shows I go to, wanting to use these rare occasions to see longtime favorite artists.
But you know what?
There’s something special about going to see an artist whose work you don’t know inside-out. An artist whose vibe you’re familiar with, who you’re confident can put on a show, just one you haven’t spent a ton of time with. Then going to their show and getting treated to a p e r f o r m a n c e.
This was Tank and the Bangas last night. They get the party going.
Knafeh ice cream date
Good taste starts early.
COMMUNITY MURAL
Weekend events: Took the big twin out on a ramen centric field trip and wound up watching the halftime show from a sports fan gear store by the border.
Also worked on a mural.
AWARD WINNING
Probably gonna have to retire from nonprofit marketing now that the perfect fundraiser has already been done.
BEST DATE + BEST DATE CRASHER
The past week the whole feed has been like:
What marketers can learn from Kendrick Lamar
What event coordinators can learn from Kendrick Lamar
What couples wanting to improve communication can learn from Kendrick Lamar
What suburban beekeepers can learn from Kendrick Lamar
And I’m not mad at it.
Given what the feed has looked like since mid-January, please keep it coming. I can’t wait to achieve the perfect at-home puff pastry by learning from Kendrick Lamar.
$800 to Senegal
The downside to tracking flights the way I do is having full visibility of all the great deals I can’t take.
$550 to Amsterdam. Saw a $800 round trip from San Diego to Senegal this month. I have yet to do West Africa.
Paddington in Peru
Daddy daughter date with the bear who never lets us down.
While 1&2 set an almost impossibly high bar, happy to say 3 does a pretty good job keeping up. Antonio Banderas was a good pick to pick up Hugh Grant’s goofy villain baton. The diaspora/immigration themes are a bit more pronounced in Peru, but to good effect.
REPLAY TOYS
Stumbled upon a used toys store in town recently. Replay Toys. The people running this shop have a good thing going on! Store full of throwback gems. Not quite flea market prices, but a very good likelihood you’ll encounter a childhood fave you forgot about. Spent over an hour in here with Rhys just exploring and could’ve spent longer.
corner club
I’ve been really digging this EP.
If you’re in the mood for some real simple, sweet songwriter indie with clever lines, don’t miss out on corner club.
MAKIN’ BOOCH
I made some booch!
Happy with the results considering this was my first attempt ever. Went with chopped mango and mango-habanero syrup to feed my second fermentation.
Notes:
Fresh fruit is my preference for the second fermentation since it seems to produce the best carbonation.
I’m on my third batch now using the same mother and it’s getting better flavor each round.
Good Work
No need to overcomplicate what good work looks like.
Make it about something bigger than yourself and love the process. Be more invested in being fully present to the process than the results.
I feel like my reading has been light lately, but here are some recent standouts…
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry – I picked this up because Min Jin Lee cited it as a key inspiration for Pachinko, one of my all time faves. It’s similar in its epic scale, this time weaving a story through the lives of a whole bunch of characters over a few decades min India.
I’m Laughing Because I’m Crying by Youngmi Mayer – Youngmi’s unrestrained honesty has always been a hallmark of her comedy and it translates really well into memoir.
The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer – Kimmerer does what she’s proven to do extremely well… take nature’s lessons and put them into some gorgeous and compelling writing.
Playground by Richard Power – I loved The Overstory and had high hopes for this. Some things I thought worked really well. I like that he went for a more lighthearted tone compared to The Overstory. He pulls some familiar moves, like interpolating a character based on a real world scientist, and I wish the tech themes were toned down since those also featured so prominently in The Overstory.
James by Percival Everett – The hype is real on this one. Loved the character of James and the whole conversation around performance that keeps coming back around.
Those misty morning runs
The Slow Times
This year, I feel like I’ve seen a bunch of people remark how long things have felt. One month feels like an eternity. Especially January!
But we all know in December we’ll all be freaking out perplexed about how the end’s already here and we’re in the latter half of the decade.
Learning how to appreciate the boring times and liminal spaces makes life so much bigger.