The Great Neilish Newslettering Show
Former Daylight-savers,
I apologize for the typo in the opening sentence of my previous newsletter. I endeavor to avoid such errors in the future.
This month has included a course of antibiotics for a weird skin infection (gross!), too many meetings (gross!), and nitro coffees at the Comcast Technology Center than I can count (not gross!). Fall weather has me doing some winter prep: I need a new sweater or two, I've got to freeze some soups I won't eat, and where does one even find good bootlaces? I also find myself making notes for a range of 2020 goals, a phrase I have a hard time saying out loud, because I keep trying to say "2019" goals. It's the "date on the check" problem, early and verbal. Some of these are major, some are taken care of in an evening (like a trip to Caveat. Who's with me?).
Largely thanks to a passage in The Code of Trust, I've recently been reflecting on what it means to respect someone's time and how to show that respect. That display can be verbal, like starting a conversation “I know you're very busy so I won't take up too much of your time” or nonverbal, like checking the time to indicate you'll wrap up soon. I don't think these moves are always right; I do think, though, it's important to value others' time in word and deed! How often do your meetings start five minutes late for no good reason? How often do you hear a weak excuse for someone showing up late? I certainly have been the responsible party for those scenarios. It's not that a bit of reading and thinking has cured me of being late. I'm just gazing into my navel about experiences where the timing seems to, generally, mismatch with my interests and needs. (For an interesting counterpoint to all this, my friend Carl(os) Roa is in Colombia thinking about colonialism's influence on punctuality.)
Reading
I am still making my way at a medium pace through The Code of Trust, Born to Run, Art of Gathering, and Wasting Time on the Internet. I have foolishly also started There There and White Fragility, only one of which should have been at the top of my TBR pile, yet here we are. And for work reasons, I need to cram in some poetry over the next two weeks. THIS IS FINE.
I am pleased to announce I finished the extraordinarily contemporary novel Very Nice by Marcy Dermansky. I don't remember how I first heard of this. It was... quite good. If you like stories told from multiple points of view (though not really a Rashomon-style path), I'd recommend it as a fun, light read that does touch on some challenging topics.
Over in the realm of articles, I'm charmed by this story of a famous mannequin.
And, on-brand for this section, I'm reading about dinner parties and gatherings. A selection of relevant lines:
"My friends and I now resort to scheduling programs such as Doodle to plan group dinners."
"Despite the lack of space, money, and formality, today’s 20- and 30-somethings still love to entertain — they just would never call it 'entertaining.'”
"People are sharing stories via group text and Twitter and Slack as it is, talking about them online. Why not move that to the dinner table.” (Um, because we all have enough homework already? I would skim what you send me though.. maybe.)
Eating
One annual tradition I enjoy is Chicken Day, a holiday observed at exactly one household in the world, that my friends the Milazzos in Corning. The parents of my childhood friends started this yearly feast 30-some years ago as a way to gather with friends and the focus is on Cornell Chicken, low and slow. Young attendees enjoy chalk art competitions, older attendees enjoy crafts, and the older two generations of attendees enjoy vodka tonics with a side of “What are your kids up to? Oh nice."
I've been on a squash & yam kick in the kitchen. Twice, I've made the Ottolenghi Plenty More butternut squash with cilantro and sriracha yogurt. I've been experimenting with sweet potato burritos. And I tried the Smitten Kitchen baked garlic tomato rice serviced with a tofu & broccoli combo. I'd like to refine the rice and the burritos further. Your thoughts are most welcome.
Elsewhere in town, I'd like to recommend Thanal's lunch buffet, Trust the Sauces hot sauce, and the Locust Rendezvous burger lunch special. The latter is now in my top three lunch deals in town:
Do I talk about drinks here much? I was on a boulevardier kick which didn't last long. Then I started mucking about with cardamom simple syrup, for something along the lines of A Long Winter's Nap meets an Old-fashioned. At Halloween, I curated a beverage program for the film Hocus Pocus, and the batches I made of the punches are still going strong...
Meeting
November's a helluva schedule. The First Person Arts Festival started today. Over the next two weeks, I'll be at the Becoming Philadelphia storycircles at Free Library locations, and the EMOC Coming Home event, and various other spots as energy/time/space allows. Also this week, I'm part of a Penn Nursing Twitter chat, co-hosting a political fundraiser, and speaking about psycholinguistics in an effort to inspire improv.
Later in the month I'll make another appearance on Porn Stash. I am pleasantly shocked to invite you to a stand-up gig I have in suburbia. And, yes, I'll perform at least once with The N Crowd.
Beating
I'll keep this one short? Jackson Browne has felt very fall. I went on a spree one morning listening to every version I could find of Neil Young's “Harvest Moon”. I devoured the podcast Long May The Run, all about Phish. The best comparison I have for this is a 30 For 30 style documentary. I learned So Much and had a lot to reflect on. Oh, and because Twitter, I inspired some guy I don't know to sing William Carlos Williams in the style of Bob Dylan.
Deleting
I picked up 2 of the 4 boxes I've had in storage at my brother's house. One was full of bedclothes I don't need. Anybody need a queen bedskirt? The other was the strangest conglomeration of books, ranging from Summer in A Glass to my high school chorus sheet music to The Way Things Work to David Ives.
Speaking of books, I sat down with my accountant for some much-needed tax advice and bookkeeping activity. I'm looking to cut down on my complications in this regard. I freak out every year about itemized deductions for Bardhan Consulting. Let's stop the freaking!!! Let's organize finances and divest from shitty corporations in the interest of our own corporations!!!
Retreating
All-too-brief trips to Spencer Crest Nature Center, Kelsey's friends in NoVa, and my friend Joel in Maryland reminded me how much I love road trips and Berger cookies.
Will I ever get into shortwave radio or video games? Not at this rate. Has your polling place moved since the last election? Maybe.
Warmly,
Neil
I apologize for the typo in the opening sentence of my previous newsletter. I endeavor to avoid such errors in the future.
This month has included a course of antibiotics for a weird skin infection (gross!), too many meetings (gross!), and nitro coffees at the Comcast Technology Center than I can count (not gross!). Fall weather has me doing some winter prep: I need a new sweater or two, I've got to freeze some soups I won't eat, and where does one even find good bootlaces? I also find myself making notes for a range of 2020 goals, a phrase I have a hard time saying out loud, because I keep trying to say "2019" goals. It's the "date on the check" problem, early and verbal. Some of these are major, some are taken care of in an evening (like a trip to Caveat. Who's with me?).
Largely thanks to a passage in The Code of Trust, I've recently been reflecting on what it means to respect someone's time and how to show that respect. That display can be verbal, like starting a conversation “I know you're very busy so I won't take up too much of your time” or nonverbal, like checking the time to indicate you'll wrap up soon. I don't think these moves are always right; I do think, though, it's important to value others' time in word and deed! How often do your meetings start five minutes late for no good reason? How often do you hear a weak excuse for someone showing up late? I certainly have been the responsible party for those scenarios. It's not that a bit of reading and thinking has cured me of being late. I'm just gazing into my navel about experiences where the timing seems to, generally, mismatch with my interests and needs. (For an interesting counterpoint to all this, my friend Carl(os) Roa is in Colombia thinking about colonialism's influence on punctuality.)
Reading
I am still making my way at a medium pace through The Code of Trust, Born to Run, Art of Gathering, and Wasting Time on the Internet. I have foolishly also started There There and White Fragility, only one of which should have been at the top of my TBR pile, yet here we are. And for work reasons, I need to cram in some poetry over the next two weeks. THIS IS FINE.
I am pleased to announce I finished the extraordinarily contemporary novel Very Nice by Marcy Dermansky. I don't remember how I first heard of this. It was... quite good. If you like stories told from multiple points of view (though not really a Rashomon-style path), I'd recommend it as a fun, light read that does touch on some challenging topics.
Over in the realm of articles, I'm charmed by this story of a famous mannequin.
And, on-brand for this section, I'm reading about dinner parties and gatherings. A selection of relevant lines:
"My friends and I now resort to scheduling programs such as Doodle to plan group dinners."
"Despite the lack of space, money, and formality, today’s 20- and 30-somethings still love to entertain — they just would never call it 'entertaining.'”
"People are sharing stories via group text and Twitter and Slack as it is, talking about them online. Why not move that to the dinner table.” (Um, because we all have enough homework already? I would skim what you send me though.. maybe.)
Eating
One annual tradition I enjoy is Chicken Day, a holiday observed at exactly one household in the world, that my friends the Milazzos in Corning. The parents of my childhood friends started this yearly feast 30-some years ago as a way to gather with friends and the focus is on Cornell Chicken, low and slow. Young attendees enjoy chalk art competitions, older attendees enjoy crafts, and the older two generations of attendees enjoy vodka tonics with a side of “What are your kids up to? Oh nice."
I've been on a squash & yam kick in the kitchen. Twice, I've made the Ottolenghi Plenty More butternut squash with cilantro and sriracha yogurt. I've been experimenting with sweet potato burritos. And I tried the Smitten Kitchen baked garlic tomato rice serviced with a tofu & broccoli combo. I'd like to refine the rice and the burritos further. Your thoughts are most welcome.
Elsewhere in town, I'd like to recommend Thanal's lunch buffet, Trust the Sauces hot sauce, and the Locust Rendezvous burger lunch special. The latter is now in my top three lunch deals in town:
Do I talk about drinks here much? I was on a boulevardier kick which didn't last long. Then I started mucking about with cardamom simple syrup, for something along the lines of A Long Winter's Nap meets an Old-fashioned. At Halloween, I curated a beverage program for the film Hocus Pocus, and the batches I made of the punches are still going strong...
Meeting
November's a helluva schedule. The First Person Arts Festival started today. Over the next two weeks, I'll be at the Becoming Philadelphia storycircles at Free Library locations, and the EMOC Coming Home event, and various other spots as energy/time/space allows. Also this week, I'm part of a Penn Nursing Twitter chat, co-hosting a political fundraiser, and speaking about psycholinguistics in an effort to inspire improv.
Later in the month I'll make another appearance on Porn Stash. I am pleasantly shocked to invite you to a stand-up gig I have in suburbia. And, yes, I'll perform at least once with The N Crowd.
Beating
I'll keep this one short? Jackson Browne has felt very fall. I went on a spree one morning listening to every version I could find of Neil Young's “Harvest Moon”. I devoured the podcast Long May The Run, all about Phish. The best comparison I have for this is a 30 For 30 style documentary. I learned So Much and had a lot to reflect on. Oh, and because Twitter, I inspired some guy I don't know to sing William Carlos Williams in the style of Bob Dylan.
Deleting
I picked up 2 of the 4 boxes I've had in storage at my brother's house. One was full of bedclothes I don't need. Anybody need a queen bedskirt? The other was the strangest conglomeration of books, ranging from Summer in A Glass to my high school chorus sheet music to The Way Things Work to David Ives.
Speaking of books, I sat down with my accountant for some much-needed tax advice and bookkeeping activity. I'm looking to cut down on my complications in this regard. I freak out every year about itemized deductions for Bardhan Consulting. Let's stop the freaking!!! Let's organize finances and divest from shitty corporations in the interest of our own corporations!!!
Retreating
All-too-brief trips to Spencer Crest Nature Center, Kelsey's friends in NoVa, and my friend Joel in Maryland reminded me how much I love road trips and Berger cookies.
Will I ever get into shortwave radio or video games? Not at this rate. Has your polling place moved since the last election? Maybe.
Warmly,
Neil
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