05.02023 Update

Look around, look around, at how lucky we are to be alive right now. From the best musical ever.

May update

This monthly email update makes me realize how quickly time passes, and also how arbitrary it is.

I spent most of this month in SF, with a week in Toronto. I love California. I love its liveliness, its vividness, its naiveté, its people. I hosted my first Mandarin dinner for heritage speakers, which was lovely, and went to far too many venture-funded restaurant meals (I’m now trying to get on semaglutide, which should reduce cravings such that I will be eternally fasted except when I’m fed for free). The next one is June 10th, come through!

I took one of my best friends, M, from childhood out to a nice lunch at Sassafraz. He just finished medical school and will be starting his residency as a pediatrician! So very proud of him. It has been wonderful to see my friends come into their own.

I love LocalFoodz, a food plan that’s actually yummy while also hitting your macro + calorie goals — referral link here. I also started using an EA service (Athena, referral link for second month free, it’s $3k/mo); it’s been tremendously helpful to have a full-time EA, especially for alleviating my RSI. I started using Superhuman and Linear (using keyboard shortcuts for everything is amazing). And I found an amazing therapist in person in SF! So, I’ve worked through a lot of my life infra upgrade queue, although I’m still looking for an executive coach, especially those skilled with working with neurodiverse women of color.

I’m moving in with two of my teammates into a beautiful apartment in NoPA, but we are still looking for a 12-month least starting August 1. If you’re interested in working at or consulting with Trellis, let me know and you can cowork at our office one day.

I made a few new friends in Toronto in publishing, and as a result purchased way too many indie books at book fairs that I’m excited to read. Some poetry, some magical realism, some auto-fiction. One of my literary friends told me I have a real talent for poetry, and is willing to be responsible for my poetry education, which is tremendously exciting for me. I finished up a writing workshop I’ve been enrolled in for the past six weeks on poetry about technology, so I’ve been looking for both community & guidance in improving my craft and building up my poetry portfolio to submit to various journals. 

I’m working out quite a lot, lifting 5x a week, and yoga 5x a week. I want to start swimming again once a week, and need a coach to reteach me forms and flips. It’s been motivating to work alongside people who work really hard both on their companies and on their bodies. 

I’m still looking for a SF apartment to purchase. 

I’m working on an essay artifact for Verses on tools for conviviality, which I feel excited about. Other members are thinking about shrines, worship, and neurodivergence. I’m super excited for the retreat (we are all going to go to Bota Bota, probably my favourite commercial space in the world, it’s a spa on a boat). Your invite and proposed itinerary here - ~30+ people are coming!

I’m turning 25 in about a month, and searching for wise memoirs, biographies, and poetry to guide me into the second quarter of my life wisely, thoughtfully, and joyfully. My focus in the first quarter of my life, looking back, was exploration, early inklings of mastery, and getting the wilder things under control. The second quarter will be on building long-standing commitments (to Trellis, to verses, to my loves, to my community and family), working on my physical & mental health, and building a home & family of my own. I think my third quarter will be intellectual and artistic exploration, freed of the obligation to build longitudinally and again available for compact, ephemeral gestures.

Feeling full of light. I wish you well!