Mal is one of my best friends and greatest enablers. So when I saw she was making a newsletter and thought, “Should I do that?” she said “YES! And let’s get bellybutton piercings.”
So she is lovingly letting me advertise my new newsletter: The NextBest Newsletter. It’ll take a different vibe than Mal’s cultural juggernaut #MalCrushMonday. The NextBest Newsletter is the outlet I’m making for my biggest problem: my next idea is always my best idea. So, it’ll be a spot for me to throw creative things out to the Æther; primarily whatever writing nonsense I’m working on, but I’ve also been dabbling in ceramics, so it might be stuff like this
So sign up for the first issue here! It’ll be at nextbest.substack.com.
Ok, I guess that’s all I have to say —
OH WAIT
I get the great honor of presenting you this #PalCrushMonday.
The format:
What I’m crushing (accomplishing, achieving, attaining, fulfilling, something that I am being successful at.)
What is crushing me (see definition 3b, something that is bringing me down.)
What I’m crushing on (admiring, adoring, appreciating, cherishing, favoriting, etc.)
What I’m crushing
THE HATERS
Just kidding.
I recently decided to do a rebrand as someone who wears Nice Shirts™ and while I haven’t suddenly become a new person, it feels like another step that I’ve been taking to get myself to the place I want to be. This is one of the many pillars that I’ve been leaning into recently: not being on dating apps, new meds, a more active engagement with creativity, and my cat Ferb.
What’s crushing me
THE HATERS
Just kidding.
My enemies are much more ethereal. All in all I’m in a great spot, so it’s put me in a weird position: I have to address my existential demons rather than just trying to survive them. I don’t know why I am, and I don’t claim to be smart enough to have that answer. But in times of trouble I have a mantra that I return to:
That’s the way it be.
And I’ll admit, this does not help.
What I’m crushing on
To no one’s surprise… the haters.
And only kinda kidding? I have a real problem where I develop a crush pretty much any time I leave the house. I have a large capacity for love, but that doesn’t mean I’ll dole it out left and right. I’ve been very actively using dating apps and this is the first time in a long time that I’ve made a conscious effort to put them down. Part of me hopes I meet someone more naturally, but I also hate to leave my apartment and have experiences.
So if anyone ;) reading a certain newsletter ;) knows any Chicago-based Cuties ;) you know who to contact ;)
But outside of that, I consume media like a little story gremlin, so here’s what I’ve crushed on recently:
Who shat on the floor at my wedding? — Podcast, very funny. The title kind of explains it all.
Invincible Season 2 — cartoon tv show that has been just as compelling in its second season as it was in the first.
Cassandra in Reverse — Book that I finished today* and really enjoyed. The main character is very entertaining and thinks in a very abstract way, making it a super interesting to read.
*Today as of writing this, not today as of you reading this, which is how writing works.
So that’s all from me. I hope to see you all at my new little venture with NextBest. I hope you have a great week, and I hope you get a big ole’ smooch, literally or metaphorically.
Thanks for letting me write this Mal, now don’t include this in the PalCrush, but I’ve had this weird rash that I’ve been meaning to ask you about. I don’t know exactly when it started, but I want to point to that McDonalds-popup-bar-play-place or that homemade ‘Chicago Style’ lotion that one of my coworkers gave me. It looks kinda like—
Tannner! Ya crushed it! What a writer! What a Pal!