Aside

Elsewhere for a few days

Tuesday morning greeted me with eight meetings on my calendar and this message: "Are you aware of the buffoonery that happened over the weekend while you traveled or did you shut down the outside stuff that was happening temporarily?"

It was my birthday, so we decided to exist elsewhere for a few days. We disconnected, slept in, ate good food, and sauntered around.

A few things I saw:

"It's super cool to be really kind."

Posters with peace signs

Walked by Make Art or Die Trying. It caught my eye, so now I'm reading it. I'm seeing a theme in the art that I'm consuming: resistance.

Bright orange book, Make Art or Die Trying by Stuart Semple

"Olive you." Something for my E.

Hand-painted card depicting two olives

"You rock." Something for the sister, whose favorite scene in Everything Everywhere All at Once is the rocks.

Illustration of stacked rocks with smiley faces

"Seven dollar drink enjoyer." This is me.

Sticker of a cute bunny drinking boba

"Hot drinks, warm hearts." Also me.

Window banner depicting boba drinks

This review of Earthlings: "I first found this book in a free little library & the more I read the more I realized why someone would've left it there. Not for the faint of heart. Shit goes down. Reviewed by: Chant." I am intrigued.

Purple book with a cute stuffed hedgehog, *Earthlings* by Sayaka Murata, and a handwritten review on a card

A gacha book gift-wrapped in hot pink, by an Asian author, and described as dystopian + a critique on capitalism. How can I not? It turned out to be Severance by Ling Ma. I look forward to reading it.

Book wrapped in kraft paper with a pink ribbon and handwritten note

I returned home to (feeling deeply ashamed of my country and) a package — an unexpected gift from an unexpected friend. He sent three bags of grain: amaranth, sorghum, and corn. At first, I was confused, but he said, "They all pop! The amaranth pop is very small." He remembered that I love popcorn. What a lovely birthday gift.