Consumption List No. 11
A weekly list of what I've consumed, and how it made it's way into my life
Living to please your future self from Maybe Baby (subscription), a good reminder for any day
“One way to think of regret is a lack of trust in our former selves. When we regret something, we believe that our former selves ought to have made a different decision, but how much do we really know of our former selves? And in what ways do we underestimate them? When older parents tell me “the years go by so fast” with a pained slant in their eyebrows, maybe they’re the ones who need reassuring: It’s okay, I might tell them. I’m sure you enjoyed it! I’m sure it felt long and arduous when you were in it. I’m sure you were tired and joyful beyond measure. There’s nothing to regret, there’s nothing else you could have done.”
Cake for Lunch: Summer Ins and Outs from Angel Cake (subscription), it was so entertaining I made my own (heavily copying ac)
IN
Calling friends to catch up instead of texting - my eyes are tired !!
Inhaling books - and putting them down when they don’t hit
Herb-centered meals - hot take - if I can’t use the thyme, oregano, basil, chives, mint, or rosemary growing in the garden, that dish does not belong on my plate this summer
$30 dinners (ac) - I actually have been doing this more frequently and totally recommend
Third-wheeling (ac) - just met a friend’s new s/o and it was so lovely to witness a romance in its infancy. side bar - does hanging out with your parents count as third-wheeling?
Dinner and a party (ac) - I need to do this
5 beers for whoever wants one (ac) - also need to do this
Carrying a compact (ac) - now that I’m thinking about it, every time I’ve done my make up in the car, using the iPhone front camera has been frustrating. Maybe I will carry a compact.
OUT
Saving things for later (ac) - I’m so guilty of waiting to book trips or saving a restaurant for a big occasion, carpe diem is correct!
Pilates - it’s too beautiful outside, it’s a HITT summer
Outsourcing decisions
marinated zucchini from Mama Eats (subscription), this came out SO good! Now that I’m thinking about it, most of my cooking is probably self-driven, I make the same things often and out of habit. Also on the menu this week: baked rosemary asparagus, avocado tomato and beet salad with mint, avocado toast with basil, and pesto pasta.
Tennis - I started playing again because I need a more legit hobby and also a couple friends have recently been talking about learning. Hybrid. And while I was at my high school tennis court, I remembered bleacher workouts and did that too this week. That one’s self-driven.
From Eye on AI (subscription) - AI Coding Assistants Benefits May Be Vastly Overstated
My main takeaway: even though AI coding assistants might not be saving time, they are increasing job satisfaction since SWE’s are spending time reviewing AI output instead of having to start from scratch with lots of research. When are we going to adjust our expectation of AI as this all-purpose tool that automates tasks and start to accept that it’ll mostly just change how we operate? It can still increase efficiency and job satisfaction but we’re not getting away from needing a human in the loop anytime soon.
Books! You should add these to your list. Good Material was a rec from Downtime (a Substack) and I picked up Walking on the Ceiling because I liked the author’s other book, The Anthropologists (which I heard of from another Substack, Mama Eats). I also started but decided not to finish another Downtime rec - Margot’s Got Money Problems.
Music - listening to I Quit (HAIM) and Renaissance (Raf Saperra) on repeat. I’m already a fan of both artists but friends told me about both album releases (and I probably would have gotten a nudge from Spotify too). I don’t really feel like these belong in externally-driven but putting it in self-driven feels like cheating.
The Post-Reality Era from Sinead Bovell (subscription).
Chilling and unbelievable - an explanation of the “post-reality era” of AI, where people feel like AI is real and are willing to give it unbelievable power. WHAT ARE WE DOING??? We need to fix loneliness asap.
“Two years ago, kyla scanlon coined the term ‘vibecession’ to describe the disconnect between economic data and public sentiment. The economy was, by most indicators, doing fine. But it didn’t feel like it. Social media amplified that discontent. Enraging, emotionally charged posts perform better, so we saw more of them. Feelings outran the data, but the underlying source material and trending narratives stayed visible…
Moving through societal issues requires consensus. Consensus requires overlapping facts. Social media made that overlap thinner; the pandemic showed how hard basic alignment became. Our democracy, a shared story built on that overlap, now feels more brittle. AI‑generated personal realities thin it further: a storyline can be custom‑built before anyone else even sees it.”
Not to be all thank you speech-y but thank you to all my friends who keep asking when my next consumption list is coming out!! This post is both self-driven and externally-motivated 🤓