It’s the second week of Things That Happened recaps, and I’m still going strong. Slow clap slow clap slow clap. This week we’ll discuss return to office, the resurgence of a weird Covid side effect, and how I changed the title of this recap. Ohhhhhh suhnaaaaaaaapppppppp.
I’m feeling good about this, but not TOO good ofc because that would lead to cockiness. And cockiness leads to complacency. And complacency leads to two weeks of wearing the same sweats before realizing that the smell you smell isn’t a dead mouse between the walls—it’s you.
Not that I’m speaking from personal experience or anything. I just wanted to use the em dash.
Without further ado, here’s the recap.
THINGS I LEARNED
The workplace isn’t the only route to a social network, but it is one of the easiest places to form long-lasting relationships. Work puts on display not only our personality, but also our ethics—how we respond to stress, how we treat others when faced with adversity. These are qualities that build trust and meaningful connections.
When we disengage from one another, we forfeit the only source of capital that we can generate entirely for ourselves. Employers give us paychecks, but they also provide us with this additional commodity. Refusing to return to the office is akin to leaving it on the table.
While I begrudgingly do think that having consistent, (masked) face-to-(masked) face contact with humans is good for society (People are fucking crazy these days; have you seen how they drive?!), it doesn’t mean I have to like return to office.
- It’s been one year since Michelle Go was killed on the subway. Her dad writes:
The millions of people in New York City may not agree on everything, but we can agree that New York City should be safe for those who call it home. Michelle did not live with fear of being attacked. She took the subway to work; she was not reckless about her surroundings. If Michelle were still here, she would urge us to come together to build a safer community. This is not about politics; this is about caring for each other and humanity.
- The Lottery is fucked up and so, so good.
THINGS I DID
I accidentally gave a subcategory of the recap the same name as the recap. But that’s what happens when you try to alleviate the anxiety of writing by not overthinking when it’s an activity that requires overthinking. I lost much sleep over it. Behold the “Things That Happened” that was formerly known as “Things I Did.” I feel better now.
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Franco went to SF this week for work so I was on pup duty. And when Militant Pup Dad’s away, the Fun Indulgent Much Cooler Pup Mom gives baby bear all the chicken he wants and more.
I got chicken, too. It was around this time I realized a weird side effect of Covid had returned: the smell of cigarette smoke. In the early days of the pandemic, when I was on what I was so sure was my deathbed, I thought the building super had started smoking under our bedroom window at odd times to destress. It didn’t help that Franco, who was also on what he was so sure was his deathbed, smelled it, too.
And I was worried he wouldn’t adjust to studio life.
THING I WROTE
A comic I first jotted down when I was packing for Newport, RI, a few months ago, but it’s pretty much evergreen because it happens all the time. Even for international trips that are supposed to be one-bag excursions that somehow inexplicably, unexpectedly, unbelievably turn into two-bag ones. That’s the title of my travel memoir btw.
See you next week ✌️
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