how are we doing today my dear ants1,
comments 💬
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Without further ado, some comments from human I love (hils).
reply to: idk it’s random (pt. 3)
“so grateful i get these. thank you. what a sweet update. keep em coming, thambi.” -P (realizing I don’t know your last initial)
“‘You might not always be nice, but you’re always kind.’
I like thiss.” -KS
update life 📈
I started pre-writing NLPR for my upcoming trip to London and India.
A jazz club and a midtown speakeasy to celebrate CN’s day of borth.
Shite photo of a very good time
Walking around LES with AC and wandering into Electric Sunshine. We talked to an electrical engineering student turned clothing designer. A nice Sunday reminder that everyone can create.
Running into a friend and realizing his girlfriend lives in my building. NYC is so small sometimes. Knowing people in here makes the building a little warmer.
I forgot to mention that last week I got locked in my apartment building. The locks got fooked and they had an innovative solution
This week I got locked in unintentionally as I fell ill.
I got ‘lectured’ on how I should take care of myself over the phone. Thank you mom, I’m not always the most receptive, but I appreciate it very much.
I may have reignited my GrubHub usage.
Lucia’s for the first time. Sal and Richie y’all make good pizza.
A phone call with a buddy from SF.
Cancelled a trip to Detroit, but planned a catch up with the lovely YK for this weekend anyway. LQ and JR, you know you’re always welcome to join.
break ice ⛏
In other cultures they call ice breakers warmers, warm-up activities, or energizers.
icebreaker:
“What’s your idea of a good holiday?”
my answer:
Nothing beats a Jet23 Holiday. A ha ha.
I like the word holiday, it means timeoff without some of the connotation that the word vacation has.
There’s two types of holidays for me: chill ones and busy ones. I like a mix of both. I want to see new things with people I want to build memories with. That person can just be me. And I want to recharge. I struggle a bit with doing both in the same vacation, so I’ve been leaning towards recharge instead of go, go, go as of late.
What’s your idea of a good holiday?
words 🗣
To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you, you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive.
read 📖
Currently, halfway through There is no Antimemetics Division. No takers for book club this month, so I’ll report back with my thoughts over the next few weeks!
All I can say right now is it’s cool and weird, just as advertised.
watch 📺 : how did people consume information pre-interweb?
I found Mindy through an unlikely source: Subway Takes.
Her take, “We should gossip more.” She anecdotally traces the roots of gossip as a form of social safety net that women used in days past. I’m oversimplifying the take, but there’s more than a kernel of truth in there.
What you don’t know can hurt you. Information is powerful.
When I think about information, I can easily fall into the trap of thinking that the goal is to just share more information. But that’s just one part of the equation.
The other part is how you can present that information in a digestible format and provide pathways for people to consume more things that are relevant to them.
In this talk Mindy lays out some of the pre-Internet ways of sharing of information!
Want to see a curated archive of old catalogs, reframe your thinking about how to interpret presented information, and find some ways that people were directed when things were in print? Then this is the video for you.
After watching this, I’d like to issue a shout out to my friends who make ‘zines. You’re keeping a valuable art alive and when I see how you all keep innovating the layouts, it’s clear that you’re making it your own.
write 🖋
products
“What does he do anyway?”
“He’s on the phone a lot, but I’m not sure…”
“It doesn’t seem like he’s always talking about work?”
“Okay… what is he talking about?”
“Maps of roads, building blocks, and what people want?”
“Huh… weird.”
“Right? One day I swear he was on the phone nerding out about a something that could organize the cabinet under our sink.”2
The garage whirred in the background.
“Speak of the devil. It looks like he’s home. Let’s ask him!”
Micah saw a glint of interrogator’s glee creep into Sara’s eyes and giggled.
Somethings don’t change.
“Hey hon.”
“Look who graced us with her presence.”
“Hey!”
“Sara, it’s been a minute - good to see ya. What brings you in town?”
“This girl and I might have a wedding I need to squeeze in.”
“So we were wondering… What do you do?”
“Who’s getting marrie-”
“I’ll tell you in a sec, I wanna know this first.”
A wry smile popped onto Sam’s face as he looked at Sara bouncing in her impatience.
Somethings never change.
“Okay. Okay. I’m a product ma-”
“Cut it. What’s that actually mean?”
“I missed you too sis.”
“Like every job it means something different in every comp-”
Glass meets sidetable. Sara makes direct eye contact.
“Bih. What do you do?”
“Hol’on. Let me get through my preamble.”
Sam takes in a breath and starts rattling off a list.
“I work with a team of software engineers to build things.
I talk to people who have problems that they want solved.
Decide if it’s something that’s worth building.
Figure out what we need to do it.
Work with a designer to figure out how it’ll look.
Talk to the engineers to figure out how long it’ll take.
Choose what we’re going to first.
Market it.
Release it.
Look at how people are using it.
Add things that’ll help people use it better!”
He exhales.
“Got it?”
“So nerd shit?”
“Aye. Nerd shit.”
Sam, Sara, and Micah lock eyes and burst out laughing.
“So what do you do?”
“I’m a consultant.”
“Girlll.”
“Hmm?”
Sara suddenly gets very interested in her drink.
“Soooo what do you do?”
product-ing some things,
1 Ants are in a hil. The hil in question? The humans I love category ❣️
2 This is a true story at one of my jobs we had 20+ people talking about how cabinet organizers are one of the greatest products ever made.
3 Updated from Jet Blue to Jet2 because I’m a boomer and messed that up.
