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​Friday Inspiration 471​
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I support Van Neistat on Patreon but I don’t always get around to watching every single video he puts out—which is a bummer, because there’s always a gem somewhere in most of his stuff. I particularly enjoyed the reference to “Eastern laziness vs. Western laziness” in this one, which you could probably alternately call “Eastern relaxing vs. Western relaxing.” (video)

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I assume that you, like me, have had no less than one thousand instances in your life in which you had a weird or awkward conversation/confrontation with someone, walked away, and spent the next few minutes/several hours thinking, “you know what I should have said to that asshole?” If my assumption is correct, I think you will find Michael Estrin’s latest quick story very satisfying (and also hilarious).

Right now I’m trying to train for a 50K trail running race, but I’m also trying to get over a cold/respiratory illness I picked up from our little guy, which he picked up from his day care, which is a wonderful place, but also a hub of viruses. I think in the 12 weeks leading up to this race, I’ll have been sick/not running for three total weeks—which, I’ll admit illustrates the ridiculousness of having a hobby of running ultramarathons while having a toddler at home. So as I’m coughing away, I wonder when I’ll be able to go for a jog and not totally hose myself. Which is covered in this piece, Should you exercise when you’re ill? (<— if you click this link, it’ll give you 15% off your first purchase at Precision Fuel & Hydration)

Sometimes, to restore your faith in the world and the decency of human beings, you just need to read a great poem about a moment of people coming together for each other at the airport during a delayed flight.
(via Chris La Tray’s wonderful newsletter last week)

I fear I have read much less of Tom Robbins’ work than I should have by this point in my life, but will always be thankful to Amy, the accountant for a restaurant where I worked, for introducing me to Still Life With Woodpecker back in 2001. He died Sunday, and I think this collection of quotes from him in The Guardian is a great way to remember him (or perhaps introduce yourself to his writing, if you haven’t yet had the pleasure)—especially the one about a sense of humor.

I’m guessing this is too nerdy for about 99.9% of people, even those of us who love coffee, but man I love it when people are passionate about something and are able to communicate it, as is the case with William Ristenpart, the head of the UC Davis Coffee Center.

I have read almost all of Hanif Abdurraqib’s books, and in December of last year, as I finished his latest one, There’s Always This Year, I loved that the last line of his author bio was “He is a graduate of Beechcroft High School.” This interview with him, conducted by his agent, covers his unlikely career, and I think if you’re a writer or want to be a writer but are worried that you don’t have an MFA or other credentials, it might be inspiring. As Alia Habib writes in the intro, "I’ll admit that one of my motivations in getting this on paper is that I am often asked by young writers whether they need to get an MFA or move to New York City to make it. My answer is read this interview before you wire any substantial sums of money."

Probably my favorite part of this NPR story about watching videos of people cleaning things or restoring things or uncloggging drains is the term the author coined for the genre of this type of media: “satisfying task YouTube”

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