LIFESTYLE Newsletter Vol. 6 No. 3
Nick’s LIFESTYLE Newsletter Vol. 6 No. 3
My favorite Jeopardy! moment of all time
THIS IS AN INTRODUCTION
Hello again everyone. It's been a few weeks. A week of frustration that animated gifs crash quicklook on the latest version of Mac OS. Another hour of troubleshooting to figure out why the above gif wasn't looping (BTW - it was because buttondown was adding a width & max tag which causes clients to not loop). Weeks of SPENDING FUN BUCKS and creating rooms in our house that I hope you'll come and enjoy. Weeks of making BIG DECISIONS FOR THE YEAR OF NICK.
- IMPORTANT DATE UPDATE 2: 10 June will be an IN-PERSON GATHERING. Everyone prepare (like, literally prepare) for the first LIFESTYLE DRINK TALK LEARN party. This is a gathering where everyone creates a presentation about something they are passionate, educated or want to share and then presents it to the group. These are short presentations with a time limit (because we know LIMITATIONS create GREATNESS). This will be a gathering of LIFESTYLE and LIFESTYLE adjacent people. I'm so excited to learn about what you have to share! Venue and more details soon.
- If you've ever wanted to see how a duck competes in a marathon and handles being awarded a medal, here is the video for you.
- If you are a fan of bumpy airplane rides, good news, climate change is there for you: Airline passengers could be in for a rougher ride, thanks to climate change
- In case you were excited by the prospects of lunch together during my big sabbatical in June, I regret to inform you my sabbatical was approved and cancelled 3 times in the past 6 weeks. It was foolish to think after 20 years I could get 6 weeks of unpaid time off.
- Recent human discussion that I would LOVE LOVE LOVE your feedback on: What is a better way to live? Ranking friends or treating everyone the same? Asking for a friend (of either greater or equal stature).
ITEM THE FIRST:
THE 2023 COMMUNITY PROJECT. In the spirit of out previous community projects where we named our fears and created LIFESTYLE UNSOLICITED ADVICE together, we have a new one for a new year.
First, I want to acknowledge that my parasocial friend, Ramit Sethi, received THE LIFESTYLE BUMP and has a Netflix show this month!
With all the listening of his podcast and my wife and I going through his money journal, which has inspired great conversations, MANDATORY FUN BUCKS and a realization that we are not ambitious people--we are living our dream. It may not be your dream or seem like a lot, but when pressed to describe our dream weekend, we both said roughly the same thing and it is literally what we do every weekend. Heartwarming moment there.
Ramit has a series of 10 "Money Rules" that he applies to life. During our journal work we have been developing ours and I thought it would be fun for everyone to contribute their personal money rules and we could combine them and make a great list, like we did for the UNSOLICITED LIFE ADVICE.
Please take a look at the above link and submit 5 of your money rules. YES, YOU. THIS IS HOMEWORK. I give it once a year and it is a small price to pay for the joy that these projects bring everyone.
Here are my 5:
- Always tip at least 25%
- Spend at least 1.5% of income on charity.
- Don't budget for groceries. Celebrate and buy the weird or scary things you see.
- Always buy dinner for people that are not currently doing as well as you are.
- Support your friends in all their artistic endeavors as much as you can.
I look forward to adding yours here in the next issue. HOMEWORK TIME, PEOPLE.
ITEM THE SECOND:
THE KRISTIN TRAUTMAN MUSIC CONSERVATORY/PHOENIX LOUNGE. For those of you who have visited the palatial LAVELY ESTATES in south Eagan may have noticed for 10 years we have had a room in the house that had no purpose. This is what happens when you are DINKs and buy a 4 bedroom house. At the start of the year I declared that IT MUST FIND A USE. After watching How to Build a Sex Room, boy did we have ideas. However, the fact that it has an attached bathroom limited them since people would be walking through it.
Inspiration hit me during a session of "shower thoughts" and I put a lot of things together.
- A few years ago we went to a New Year's party that featured the game Rock Band. I used to Rock Band quite hard. It was THE THING during library school and I had a pro drum kit, lights and all sorts of shit. We invested thousands in it over 9 years. It faded though, as all things do. Playing Rock Band again fired some familiar synapses and I filed it away as I did a few years ago when FUN = SCARY.
- During BAND PRACTICE, Kristin made a comment about how if she had a bigger place she would love a music room. We were practicing in the Awesome Room at the time, not a dedicated space for music. I filed that away, but after last year FUN != SCARY.
- I stumbled across something called Clone Hero, which is a PC knock off of Guitar Hero, but supports drums, all the official content and custom stuff. I started watching videos like this (and oh, hey, this is the drum kit I got):
- During my shower after I had another AMAZING IDEA I might share with you at the end of the year, I said "Wait, I like music, I have a room and I wonder how much eDrums cost these days..."
- Melonie and I enjoy karaoke nights at home and had a blast hooking up the old PS3 and singing our dumb hearts out a few times during COVID.
Thus, the KRISTIN TRAUTMAN MUSIC CONSERVATORY/PHOENIX LOUNGE was born. We've installed a couch, some tables, a drum kit, mic, PA, speakers, some LED lighting and a 55in TV. The song catalog is well over 1000 songs and I hope you text me to book some time at the lounge!
ITEM THE THIRD:
TO CATCH A GALLEY COPY. I'm not sure what I did to deserve such an honor, but I was lucky enough to score an advanced reader copy of the latest book by LIFESTYLE AWARD WINNING AUTHOR Mindy Mejia, To Catch a Storm. WHAT A GREAT BOOK! I read it in two sittings and it was a wild ride, except when there were factual inaccuracies about airplanes, but I WAS A GOOD FRIEND and reported them for hopeful correction.
While we all know I tend to stray from reading BOOKS OF LIES, Mindy's writing is so good. It is comfort food in the best possible way. Not like shitty nostalgia comfort food, but like a wagyu steak--So good and makes you so happy.
Between this and Dr. Chuck Tingle's new novel, it going to be an amazing summer for reading, buds.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (please mark "ok to print"):
None. I miss your correspondence. More importantly, though, is DO YOUR HOMEWORK.
THE HOPE SPOT:
The return of our semi-regular section of joy bring us two news items that give me hope.
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U.S. renewable electricity surpassed coal in 2022. What amazing news. Let's keep doing this! The arguments against sustainable energy are getting weaker by the day. I just saw this too: Australia is quitting coal in record time. Shitty news source and AU still exports a SHIT TON of coal, but it is improvement and we all know DON'T SACRIFICE PROGRESS FOR PERFECTION.
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My hero of the month: Nebraska lawmaker 3 weeks into filibuster over trans bill. Fuck yeah, Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh. Add all this anti-trans, anti-LGBTQA legislation to the pile of shit we'll have to repeal over the next 50 years because it is dumb regressive shit that benefits no one.
MANDATORY FUN BUCKS MANDATORY UPDATE:
March was a big month, and arguably I spent A LOT of fun bucks on the lounge, however I am not counting that because I make the RULES FOR FUN.
- I bought the new Adi Oasis album on Bandcamp and paid double for it. I love Adi Oasis and wanted to support her. I love that Bandcamp enables me to pay more.
- I bought James Rolfe's book, A Movie Making Nerd. I'm a big fan of his YouTube show The Angry Video Game Nerd and have been literally watching it my entire marriage, so I wanted to support him too. Sadly, I had to buy it from Amazon.
- A few weeks ago I went to put on my Dr. Martin's and noticed the part that was coming apart had sprung completely and I needed to replace them. Of course, since it is me, I wanted the exact same boot. While looking on their website, I noticed they had the same style, but with a platform and they were $30 more. Old me would pass on paying that height tax. New me said "HERE IS MY MONEY MAKE ME TALLER, THANKS."
What a month!
FAVORITE THING TO GO IN MY EYEHOLES THIS MONTH:
Normally I hate April Fools "jokes" and "fun" because they are not. Mostly they are lies. However, my second favorite coffee nerd made an amazing video reviewing coffee toys under $50. When I saw this, I assumed "toys" as in accessories, but nope. Literally toys. And it is amazing:
video, click to watch
THIS IS THE END OF THE NEWSLETTER
SPRING IS COMING AND IT IS A REBIRTH.
I HAVEN'T BEEN THIS HAPPY TO BE ALIVE IN YEARS.
IT IS THE YEAR OF NICK. ALSO, DO YOUR HOMEWORK.
THAT IS ALL.