2022.07.DisappearingMoment

I’ve been a lot more social over the past few weeks than I’ve been in several years. It started as I set up time with friends before the ALA Annual conference, which took place at the end of the June. I didn’t realize how much I missed them until I saw them in person, and it made me miss the ones who didn’t attend even more. So I followed up with them, and with other friends and family.

It continued into this month: I’ve been seeing friends and family in person when I can. When I can’t, I’ve sent email messages and texts, made phone calls, lined up chats. The awkwardness I didn’t realize I’d started to feel has dissipated. I’m hearing less from the voice that tells me I’m too busy, too boring, not important enough to them to take up their time. My emerging default is to get in touch when someone is on my mind. Return the call or text or email message See if they’re free for coffee or a drink or a meal.

I still have progress to make. There are still people I love and miss and whom I haven’t communicated with in far too long or not as often as I intend. I’m fortunate enough to have a lot of people I love and admire. I want to give each of them the undivided attention they deserve.

Welcome to July 2022’s Disappearing Moment, an inventory of my experiences. I hope you enjoy it.

Podcasts

We can learn by alternating cycles of exploration (divergence) and focus (convergence). For podcasts, I’m converging, focusing on unplayed episodes of personal favorites.

Nerdy Software

Apple Maps has the best routes, voices, and spoken directions (“go through this light…”). It also respects your privacy.

Bougie Products

I carry the nuts and seeds I have with lunch in Ziploc Twist ‘n Loc Mini containers. They’re durable, convenient, and cheap.

Personal Finance and Investing

If you can make time to volunteer for a nonprofit, it’s worth doing. I get back far more than I give.

Reading

• Mandy Brown, Useful Praise (I Liked It): I would be a better person and supervisor if I could remember this advice.
• Maria Konnikova, A List of Reasons Why Our Brains Love Lists (I Liked It): She understands me.
• Daniel Markovitz, To-Do Lists Don’t Work (I Liked It): He may be right. Which frightens me to no end.
• Jason Zinoman, Janeane Garofalo Never Sold Out. What a Relief. (I Liked It): This article is equal parts better and worse than it should be.

The Elements of Listmaking

The lists I like best are:

• Structured in way that invites recall (e.g., alphabetized, ranked, sequenced). Each items starts with a bullet or number.
• Attractive, with each item discussed in similar depth, and in a consistent format.
• Précis, introducing a new topic. If the reader is familiar with a topic, they offer satisfying surprises.
• Novel: they describe a topic that is rarely documented or cover it in a way that I haven’t encountered.
• Complete, with nothing missing or extraneous. They invite emending if the topic they document changes.
• Opinionated, with elements that are qualitative or explicitly subjective (Q.E.D.).

Thanks for spending a few moments with me. I look forward to corresponding again next month.

Brett