Choosing Chaos
Because I couldn’t imagine anything else
I am writing this essay from my home (for the week) in Paris, with a view of the Eiffel Tower, windows open, music blasting, and in love. Somehow, for some reason, it feels wrong to say, but I am happy and life is good.
Paris is stop two on a five-week, five-city quasi Euro trip, as I’m working—a bit less than full-time—EST hours. Wake up, workout, go for a walk, have a coffee, read a book, get a bite to eat, take a nap, and get to work before NYC wakes up. Some of the same habits, but this is a new lifestyle. Well, not that I really had an old lifestyle. I’ve been doing this. In the past 15 months, I’ve had no permanent home, sleeping in almost two dozen places—none for longer than eight weeks. It’s a bit chaotic, but it’s exactly what I want right now.
My friends often ask me how I live like this and how long I’ll do it for. I have no exact answers to these questions, except that I will do it until I’m no longer enjoying it. To me, there is no sadder existence than continually choosing to do things you don’t enjoy, unless you absolutely must.
Aside from the everyday joys of getting to live in Paris and Park City and Austin and New York, the most reassuring interactions come from my elders, who have not once asked how or why or for how long, because despite not knowing the mechanics, they seem to get it.
Sure, there are times when I long for a home and a routine, stability and more stuff than what I fit in a carry-on and a backpack, but I’m not quite ready yet. I recognize how incredibly lucky I am to be able to live like this, and perhaps that’s why it feels wrong to say I’m happy. But with all of the choices I can make, for now I’m going to choose to keep enjoying.
Watch The Sound
I am not a music nerd, but I have a deep appreciation for music nerds—bonus points if they’re cool music nerds. Watch The Sound with Mark Ronson is chock full of the latter. Ronson connects with everyone from Paul McCartney to the surviving members of the Beastie Boys to King Princess to Questlove to Tame Impala to discuss the music-making process. I found the discussions fascinating and loved how the true potential of things like drum machines and synthesizers really comes out when those devices are used the opposite way they were intended. The cherry on top is that Ronson sports some truly epic rock tees throughout the series.
—Justin
Why Is It So Hard To Be Rational?
I’d seen this story pop up in a couple of DTC newsletters that I hate-read, but I read it in the print edition of the New Yorker, which in my mind makes this a more elevated co-sign. I find logic and rationality to be really interesting topics. When I studied Tibetan Buddhism in Dharamsala, India during college, I reveled in watching the monks in their animated debates even though I had no idea what they were saying. In his New Yorker piece, Joshua Rothman takes an objective look at rationality and why it is so in vogue, especially with the startup set. This passage seemed especially perceptive:
“Talking like a rationalist doesn’t make you one. Google makes it easy to project faux omniscience. A rationalist can give others and himself the impression of having read and digested a whole academic subspecialty, as though he’d earned a Ph.D. in a week.”
—Justin
Jonah Hill is SuperGood
Jonah Hill has been admired by the public for over a decade—as the fat funny kid, a fashion icon, a “real actor” in “serious” roles, and as a director with his 2018 debut, “Mid90s.” Jonah’s place in the culture is earned and set, but the newest evolution to a man in his late 30s, who is both happy and wise, is such a refreshing storyline. This GQ cover story is worth scrolling through for the fits alone (none of which I can afford), but the real beauty is between the lines. Adam McKay, who directed an upcoming movie starring Jonah and several other A-listers asks the questions, but really this is a two-way conversation between two very funny guys, who seem to be figuring out that they’re a lot more than that.
—Andrew