And we’re back!
It’s been less than a month since our last episode and, man, did I sweat for it! Bonesick after work! Bonesick on my vacay! Bonesick at 5am! No time for yoga! No time for even Instagram scrolling! Gotta press onward!
But I listened to something today that made me think about how this isn’t right. Nope, not at all. You’ll find the insightful bit at the bottom of this post.
On with the show…
Hints and Allegations
This is our first peek into Nüch, Toby’s place of employment. It’s all admittedly very The Office/Space (minus rabid bats and a Swingline), and a home-away-from-home I know oh-so well.
Nüch comes from a very special place in my heart. I’ve crammed tiny phone numbers into tiny ads via the dusty, very un-hip Yellow Pages division of a large ad agency. I’ve stuffed the sale prices for soup and toilet paper into the circular (that you shove directly into the circular file) via the marketing division of a large grocery conglomerate. I’ve even hocked early birds and night owls inside the digital home of a national department store chain.
So when I get mailers for *17 FREE MEALS* from Hello Fresh, I know there’s some kid out there workin’ their tail off for about $30K a year, super stoked to have finally landed that Big Job. And they’re out right now on this Friday night having a grand ol’ time letting off steam, drinking copious amounts of Jack & Cokes, philandering with coworkers, making all kinds of juicy mistakes.
Again, I speak from the heart when I say that it’s all dark and soul-less work. But I’d be living out of a cardboard box if it weren’t for those jobs, so hey, you gotta cherish the character build. And while my bosses all got richer, I stayed grounded thanks to my stellar coworkers and my cosy Cube Life. You gotta have that boombox and CDs stocked when it’s 2010, and you might have to come in on Sunday because there’s a mega important football game and no way to upload the championship image remotely.
{ True Story }
Eggs and Inside Jokes!
There are a handful of Level 10 Easter Eggs in this one: a nod to the band that inspired Bonesick, a subtle reference from the inspiring television show that ran nine glorious seasons, and hints to plot lines to come.
The punchline, however, is a total inside joke betwixt me and my forever person. One of us will say a weird phrase like:
“Did you try the spongy noodles?”
To which the other responds with something like:
“‘Spongy Noodles’ is the name of my fifth prog rock EP released during my Dead Head phase.”
During a conversation with a friend the other week, he mentioned that he and his buddies do this, so it’s definitely not just us. Is this a thing?
More Life Lessons
Oof, perspective. I haven’t had to draw ANYTHING in perspective for a couple decades I think. So after struggling with the big office room panel for 20 minutes, I finally just made a damn vanishing point, drew some lines with the edge of my paper, but after struggling some more, eventually just said fuck it, this is good enough.
And on that note! Patience is a superpower. This morning I DID finally stop working to sit on the porch, sip on my trendy MUD\WTR, and listen to my trendy meditation app. Well, I learned one heck of a life lesson:
“In a world geared for speed … to go faster and faster … the ability to cultivate patience … it’s kind of subversive. [Patience is] a way to resist the prevailing pressure to race through whatever you’re doing and instead to enter more fully into the experience of it… to be better at it…. When we’re given advice on how to … overcome procrastination … we’re told to just start, and that is absolutely true. What we tend to forget is that stopping matters just as much.”
— Oliver Burkeman
You should really listen to the whole eleven-and-a-half-minute Patience as a Superpower by Oliver Burkeman, courtesy of the Waking Up app. Maybe you either rush through things, can’t bear those epic grocery lines, or — like me — work and work and work until it’s done (shower and breakfast be damned).
Next episode, I’m goin’ for easy breezy and DEEP. Which also happens to be the name of my 2-piece Yacht Rock cover band.
There is no shame in using vanishing points.