Hello there! 👋
Living in the suburbs, and working from home, it has dawned on me how isolating it can be. Not yet integrated into the local community, I don’t have neighbourhood friends to hang out with or go to the pub to. I spend a lot of time alone in my office or walking/running around the local nature trails. In the evenings I get a few minutes of face time with my girls. But since they are teenagers, they quickly retreat to their rooms to Tiktok and their own online friends.
Once a week I will go to Z-Space to socialize in person, which is always a blast. I love that community, but it is currently a 70 minute commute to get there. There’s an old mate living on the other side of the Port Mann bridge who goes on coffee walks with me about once a month which I value. But most of my socializing is online: virtual coffees, online TTRPG, that kinda thing.
At the opposite extreme, this month I had the most amazing in-person meeting, reconnecting with someone I hadn’t seen since 2004. I was hanging off an embassy fence in Tehran, taking photos of the crowd of 40,000 “anti-America protestors”.† He recognized the Canadian flag stitched on my bag and called out to me in fluent English. It turned out that he grew up in Vancouver.
After more than 20 years away he has recently moved back to Vancouver and like me is also just getting his bearings. We spent 3 hours at a sushi restaurant reminiscing about the Vancouver of yore, and updating one another on our tangled lives. It is the strangest connection, two very different threads through time who have joined together again. By chance then, and by chance again.
In times of isolation, one just needs to reflect on all the different connections you have through time. It is a matter of perspective, like all things.
Anyways, most of the people on this newsletter are folks I know personally. If we haven’t spoken for a while, please reach out! I would love to have a virtual coffee with you and catch up.
My very best,
Chad
† I put that in scare quotes because it was really just the big procession to Friday prayers. The regime would film it and promote it overseas as a demonstration. There were some agitators in the crowd, but most people were there just to go to mosque.
🖋 From the Blog
Une petite catharsis of anomie — a review of Deep Work by Cal Newport
This one was pretty good actually.
Checking in on online media usage
This post is the reason you haven’t seen me so active on social media lately.
Boats to Nanaimo for the National Association of Japanese Canadians conference
First time a whole family showed up for a conference?
🧭 Elsewhere
I turned 47. Link →
… and got a new computer! Link →
🎩 Went to the opera Photos →
📸 Quick trip to Kelowna Photos →
Lessons for Canada’s digital infrastructure policy Link →
Why Bell Labs Worked Link →
Ben Evans has a new presentation on AI that kinda pops the bubble Link →
📖 What I’m Reading
Half a King by Joe Abercrombie
(60% Complete)
I have read and loved the First Law series, and the 3 standalone novels after that, and have recommended them to anyone I know who is into fantasy. My brother introduced them to me about a year ago. I usually don’t like reading series all in a row, but even breaking things up I read 6 of Joe Abercrombie’s works in a year! Although I can’t say I am a huge fan of grimdark fantasy, I am a massive fan of the character-driven stories Abercrombie writes.
Half a King is his foray into YA fiction. Less grimdark, but halfway through I can still feel Abercrombie’s character-centric writing style in effect. Obviously a bit less mature and complex than First Law, but so far so good.
Connect with me on GoodReads → or on Bookwyrm →