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Finally sharing my latest home renovation
I guarantee it's not what you think
Allie Lehman
February 23, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes
A quick summary: It’s Sunday and today we’re exploring:
What I did last Sunday when I started to approach boredom
Things I’m consuming (media-wise) offline
Losing track of the meaning of “we”
I did not have anyone edit this so if you see a typo, be relieved that I’m a human and not a robot.
Intersections
things that are connecting during my recess
On Sundays, social media is blocked on my phone from 9am-6pm. Sometimes I get close to being bored. Last Sunday, I was trying to figure out what to do and so I opened the fridge as one does. I closed the fridge. I looked at the outside of my fridge and I decided that I needed to change it up. It’s filled with a mixture of photos people have given to me and photos that are mailed to us when a baby is born or during the holidays.
So I decided to get some photos printed that I really love and of people who aren’t on the fridge. The people who aren’t on my fridge are some of the people I”m closest to. Have you ever seen that joke that you never have photos of you and your best friend? It’s like that.
And then there are the magnets. One is from our mortgage lender (lol). There are some animal head magnets that I have no idea how I acquired them. Various inside joke magnets from tv shows. I can’t even remember the rest. So I thought, “I should love the magnets on my fridge.” So I got this one and these. I’m going to buy all the bumper stickers I would never put on my car and add them to my fridge, too.
Turns out, when I’m a little bored and you can’t scroll through Instagram reels, I decide to express myself more (even in the smallest ways). I consider this the tiniest, little home renovation known to mankind.
Sticky offline things
things that stood out over the week
I watched The Only Girl in the Orchestra (Netflix) and absolutely loved it. It’s about 30 minutes long and such a sweet story. I also watched My Old Ass and cried (but mostly laughed). And I am watching White Lotus. It gives me anxiety but I’m committed. Plus, monkeys.
I finished reading Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI. It’s a very approachable read if you’re curious about how AI will intersect with our world, jobs, education, and more from this point on. I am attending a Zoom book club about this book next month and am looking forward to hearing strangers’ thoughts! I also finished read The Small And The Mighty. I adore Sharon and highly recommend it. It reminded me that I can actually do anything (but not everything).
Last week, I learned about the Mechanical Turk. It was an 18th-century hoax: a chess-playing "machine" that amazed audiences with its apparent intelligence, only to later be revealed as a clever illusion powered by a human hidden inside. It was “suspected by some, but never proven in public while it still existed.”
we lost track of the meaning of we
a quote that stuck with me
In those years, people will say, we lost track of the meaning of we, of you we found ourselves reduced to I
and the whole thing became silly, ironic, terrible:
we were trying to live a personal life and yes, that was the only life we could bear witness to
But the great dark birds of history screamed and plunged into our personal weather
They were headed somewhere else but their beaks and pinions drove along the shore, through the rags of fog where we stood, saying I
P.S. You’ve enjoyed this newsletter over the years, you can help contribute to the cost of publishing. I don’t have any intention of putting up a paywall but you can Venmo me @alliepal or send a tip via Paypal (this account is under my maiden name Jocson because Paypal makes it nearly impossible to change your name). Thank you to all who tip me!
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