sep '22
I never know how to start these things. I’m tired of the old charade of recalling how the days have passed so quick followed by the melancholic notes of “hope this month will be better!” It’s quite fitting that I don’t know how to start the newsletter, though. It’s much like anything I do these days; lacking a specific starting point or urge but it happens one way or another. In reality, time does actually move so fast that I don’t have a chance to linger and wait for the perfect green light. Sometimes you have to jump the red and just go for it. This initial paragraph has prevented me from sending you many newsletters in the past, and I’m determined to not let that happen again. I’m determined to “just do it.”
i’m feeling lucky
I wish I could describe in words how excited I am to share this month’s playlist. I’ve spent several hours curating this one and many more actually listening to it on my own. It’s groovy, energetic and just awesome. Listen and let me know what tunes you groove with!
[Archive playlist can be found here, and in my spotify bio]
I am… speed?
I recently watched Cars 3. It had been years since I’d seen Cars 1 and 2 and to be honest, I didn’t even know there was a 3rd installment of the series. I assumed that after “Planes” the whole franchise would come tumbling down but nope! Anyways, I watched Cars 3, all by myself, and I liked it. 5 years after its release and 16 years after Cars initial release (wtf), this movie still held up to the old Pixar and Disney standards. Great animation, interesting storyline and relevant characters. The general plot, unlike the other two Cars movies, is that Lightning McQueen isn’t good enough to race and has to do something different in order to be as good as the new generation of racers. All the old guys get pushed out and McQueen has to find a way to survive to win the Piston Cup. He’s no longer the fastest car on the track and it’s quite ironic considering that’s the main reason McQueen was the best back in 2006 and also 2011. This gets interesting because his token phrase from the previous movies was:
“Speed. I am Speed. I’m Faster Than Fast, Quicker Than Quick, I Am Lightning.”
But towards the end of Cars 3, they start the Piston Cup race scene with the same scene of him reciting his catchphrase inside the truck. But instead, this is what he says:
“Speed. I am… Speed?”
It shows for the first time that the main character, Lightning McQueen, this racecar we thought was the fastest, best and most talented, was now doubting himself. The first movie starts with him being so cocky and self-obsessed, oozing with confidence when he showed up in Radiator Springs. But now, 16 years later, he realizes that he no longer has the talent that made him famous. He doesn’t have that speed that made him Lightning McQueen. While I don’t intend to spoil the rest of the film for you all, I’d like to share one lesson I took away from this scene.
Much like Lightning McQueen, we all have one or more talents, jobs, passions or duties we feel we are good at. It could be something as large as being the best Software Engineer at Amazon or as small as having the best Chicken Enchiladas recipe in the neighborhood. But eventually, someone else comes along and they develop a better recipe or Amazon hires a better engineer. And we shouldn’t feel like we’ve lost the one best thing about us. We must adapt to stay relevant to ourselves. Lightning McQueen realized that even if his speed was the best thing he had, maybe it wasn’t the best thing he has today.
So, note to self: Just because you thought you were good at something last year or 5 years ago, doesn’t mean you have to be good at it today. You can adapt who you are and where your fortes are best suited. But once you adapt, pour your best self into that and keep up with your own race.
authenticity is overrated
Everybody likes pizza… right? I’m pretty sure it’s a common trait that if not everyone, then 99% of folks like pizza. But what about pizza is so amazing? Is it the sauce? The crust? Olives? Pineapple? Maybe the chili flakes that come in tiny little packets? It’s hard to pin it down, huh. Pizza is so loved by everyone but when I mention pizza and why you might also love it, you have a completely different idea of what a pizza is compared to me or anyone else. Each person’s favorite and ideal pizza is so uniquely special to them and that’s what they love about pizza. It’s theirs! Ofcourse you don’t always get to make that special, perfect, customized pizza… but isn’t that what you really desire? Even if Dominos gives you a $7.99 Medium Pizza deal where you can only choose 3 toppings, you get THREE whole options for freedom! For 8 bucks! Even within the constraits of budget and choice, you still feel free to choose exactly what you want on your #ad #dominospartner)
My point is, pizza is one of the most liberating food items out there because it can be customized to be exactly what you want. Do you want to put sausage and pineapples and jalapenos on top and then dip in sriracha? Go for it. Would you like a pizza with no sauce, mushrooms, olives and spinach? Make it happen, dude! You’ll get your fair share of backlash and groans but it doesn’t matter as long as you like it. Every now and then I have people over to my place for “Naan Pizza Night”, a tradition my mom started years ago. We customize sauces, toppings and seasonings onto a piece of naan and then bake them into pizzas. (see fig. 1) I make sure to have a large variety of toppings from artichokes to paneer to pancetta, and give people as much freedom as possible. And the naans are small, so each person can have 2-5 pizzas and each one can be a completely different style! I also keep multiple sauces and seasonings because while some people love dipping in ranch, others like peanut sauce. (I know, I know, but you have to try it on my thai style pizzas)
A lot of folks might hear of this and curse at me because I’m insulting their Italian heritage. Others might curse at me because I’m destroying the culture and heritage of naan by putting pizza sauce on it. Who cares? The point is, this one dish is able to bring people together and give everyone the experience of their choosing. Yes, that might not be authentic to Italian pizzas or conventional naan usage, but it’s authentic to you! And to me.
Authenticity is overrated. Everything in this world is inspired by something else. Art is not conceived without previous artists’ work. Foods are not invented without a little stealing from neighboring cultures. Code is not just ideated in a vacuum, it’s copied and rewritten, edited and modified. As many of us are artists, musicians, chefs, and creatives, we feel the need to be unique and not copy others in our passionate endeavors. It’s a tough path to be invidualistic but it’s not one that should comes with bags of imposter syndrome and anxiety/stress. As much as you might be inspired by Monet or Kubrick, you will never be able to recreate what they’ve already done (and if they were alive, they’d never be able to do what you do). Use the fuel of inspiration to be the best form of yourself that only you know possible. And don’t feel like you owe yourself or your work to a certain definition of authenticity. I encourage that you do you, and know that that is authentic.
what’s next?
I started a new job in August and I’ve been transitioning into working remotely full-time while pursuing passions and hobbies in the meantime. Ofcourse this also takes balance of time and energy as I still have to manage cooking food, cleaning the house, taking care of myself and others and just managing to be happy and have fun throughout the process. But in the first couple weeks of work, I spent lots of time on zoom, getting to know my coworkers, chatting with them 1-on-1. I spoke to everyone in the company, and considering we only have 25 people onboard, it wasn’t that tedious. Some conversations lasted 10 minutes while others went on for over an hour. Some featured brief introductions with fake chuckles and others dove deep into obscure genres of music or models of vintage BMW M3s. I enjoyed these virtual conversations because they gave me good insight into what kind of people I’d work with. In each conversation, I made sure to ask one final question:
“what’s next?”
Whether I was talking to a project manager or a design director or the CEO, I wanted to know what they had in mind for the near future. It could be a career-based answer or drastic change in life’s course. After giving everyone some time to think, I almost always got great answers:
“I want to spend more time with my 4-year old daughter”
“I might learn more Cinema 4D and practice my 3D skills”
“I’m working on a DIY bathroom project so we’ll see how that goes”
“Need to get new camera gear, my old dSLR isn’t cutting it”
“Spending more time outside and working on the beach”
“fixing up my ‘73 Porsche and helping my son with his ‘78 Beemer”
“taking a backseat and learning how not to be the CEO” (i’m not joking)
While these were just a few of my favorites, I cherished everyones responses. I also really came to love this prompt. I started asking myself the same thing, as it allows me to really question what I want for myself in the near future while setting that goal in some semi-solid form. It’s a simple question and has no timeline associated. So if you finish a yoga class and someone asks you “what’s next?”, it could mean the dinner you’ve got waiting at home or the new job you’re starting next month.
So I urge you all to ask yourselves and other humans in proximity, “what’s next?”
link drop
write a letter to your future self!
watch casey neistat be creative for 1 hour
don’t teach yourself to fear the world
listen to how the quest for status drives culture
there’s almost 8 billion people on this planet…
As with most of these newsletters, the lessons and tidbits I write about are truly just letters to myself. They allow me to fully process the things I’ve picked up along the way, and putting them in paragraph, story-esque form allows me to digest these lessons while sharing them with you all. This newsletter, in specific, was quite focused on personal motivation and desire; which is something I’ve been refining over the past few months. What do I want to work towards? Why do I make art? Where is my time best utilized? Am I happy doing this? These are not easy questions to answer but if you find yourself asking the same questions in the mirror, I do hope my newsletters offer some ideation and relief. All I intend for is some creative inquisition and healthy conversation, be it internal or external.
That being said, September seems to be a promising month with lots of productivity, mental stability, and positivity on the way! (I sound like a f*cking fortune teller, my goodness) Get outta here, go listen to my playlist and message me if you feel so inclined.
I'm glad you linked the letter to yourself. After we did that in Mr. Balagna's 8th grade class, and I opened it up senior year of high school, I wrote another one to myself to open up at the end of college. And then I did the same thing again except this time it's for when I get out of federal service. Even though I journal and keep plenty of notes on my phone etc., I loved writing about my future aspirations, current feelings, and anything that seemed fitting to squeeze in between so I could see how far I've come when I break at my next pit stop (You weren't the only one watching Cars 3 it seems...hmmm).