{D} 151: What do you do between jobs?

pics + links + fish // photos are gateways // questions are invitations

Hey there from the high valley of Mexico City.

What is this time between gigs, when anything can be done, and could be done, in any one moment. I’ve no idea whatever to do.

Should I redesign my web site. Write that long post. Take more walks. See more movies. Work from an unfamiliar coffee shop. Maybe make something different for dinner. Find a new recipe book. Call mom. Call dad. Leave messages, wait for callbacks.

Draw the thing I’ve been drawing. Color it in. Search youtube for how to paint in procreate. Respond to jury duty summons. Call the clerk’s office, hear a Virginia accent, yes m’am, no sir. Pay the rent. Pay my girlfriend back for the new fridge she bought us while I was in India, after the old one went to shit. Feed dog. Pet dog. Listen to the baby crying upstairs. Listen to the crying kitten outside. Pan fry vegetables. Reheat salmon. Sit down on the sofa with a sigh.

There are intelligent machines out there thinking quickly in silver, like the flash of moonlight on the flank of a fish.

That I can’t move as fast is a warm, warm solace.

-s.

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• “It’s basically the only place on the internet that doesn’t function as a confirmation bias machine.” I worry so much about the time when (not if) some political power comes for it: Wikipedia works because it’s boring [The Verge]

• How Anime Took Over America. I saw Akira in the theater around ‘89 and it blew my mind. Haven’t really cottoned to any anime since, though. [NYTimes]

• Oh, joy. OpenAI is building a LinkedIn competitor [Open AI]

• Gen Z is redefining the workplace with "career minimalism" [Glassdoor]

• “The soundtracks are almost like characters in the film.” Yasi Salek on the music of Singles, Good Will Hunting, So I Married an Axe Murderer, and other pre-millennium gems: The Genre-Blending Phenomenon of ’90s Soundtracks [The Criterion Collection]

• “And on that heartwarming note, let’s begin my stupidest, most action-packed adventure yet.” This is great: I attempted to walk across Greater London without using a single road [GeoWizard]

• "There is no such thing as a relationship without friction. If we fear friction, we will fear each other." The problem with empathy bots and why it’s hard to build community [Our Great Communal Mess]

• Very good at performing intelligence, and increasingly unsure whether you’re practicing it: The Strategist’s Shame [Musings of a Wandering Mind]

• e.g.: The death of the corporate job [Still Wandering]

• I have been tired of hearing Ezra Klein’s voice since 2016 but the site 3 Books does a good service by cataloguing all the books recommended by guests on his podcast [3books]

• All the brands crushing it on social, I guess

• Here, watch two balloons fighting, you’re welcome

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I draw things

Saw this fellow lighting a cig in front of a snack stand in Mumbai. I’ve also been painting the snack stand. This has proved to be a lengthy endeavor. Reader, when I tell you I had no idea how much time it takes to illustrate several hundred bags of chips … I had no idea how much time it takes to illustrate several hundred bags of chips.

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Delightful is a 100% organic, free-range, desktop-to-inbox newsletter with links and things, usually. Your host is Steve Bryant, friendly neighborhood insights and content strategist. Let’s work together or go on a hike or something. steve@thisisdelightful.com

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{ 🔒 archive }

Creativity, illustration, language, stuff like that

• What did you learn about yourself today?
  Notes on picking up drawing 30 years later

• 26 things I've learned while learning a language
  Notes from someone who’s working at it

• How to write
  On moving and watching and paying attention

• Curiosity and Research 101
  On finding out about things

• A map of what you meant to say
  On the 3D space of language

• The A.I. isn't a moron. She's your wife.
  On making ads with AI

Brand strategy, content strategy, etc

• Observational and Culture Study Cheat Sheet
  A template and tools for researching people and communities

• My content strategy toolkit
  14 tools for organizing, measuring, and creating content

• My concept diagram template
  A Figjam for diagramming the complex relationships between concepts

• Product Content Strategy 101
  For anybody who’s creating a product that requires editorial content

• The Bento Box Method for developing topical content
  A cute and useful way to structure your content topics

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Thanks for reading. Be seeing you.

A man comes to Kashmir to enjoy life, or to end it, or both.

—Salmon Rushdie, Midnight's Children