things i think about while powerwashing 179

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Would it rain? Would it not? For a week I had waffled on cancelling the grill out and celebrating my birthday in a bar instead. Unfortunately by the time the weather looked a little too dire it was already Thursday and none of the bars were responding to my requests for reservation.

With cancellation was at the forefront of my mind, I sent out a Partiful text blast on Thursday saying that we would most likely congregate in a bar. I had resigned all hope of being outside this weekend.

Until I got a text from esteemed subscriber John Mema.

And that is all it took for me to say "fuck it, we ball."

I instantly sent an Instacart order to Costco for grilling materials and got to work. After a quick dinner with my uncle I found myself staring at 9 pounds of chicken thighs and 6.3 pounds of lamb.

Which showed up the next day in the form of satay chicken and cumin lamb skewers! That along with a large pack of hot dogs seemed to feed everybody fine. The challenges did not stop there though: I ended up getting to the park extremely early in order to snag a table and grill (with esteemed subscribers Emily Ding and Jennifer Wang bringing the meats in a cooler later, thank you guys so much!) and the rest of the day was spent figuring out how the hell to light coals which I solved with the massive help of esteemed subscriber Stephen Davis.

Other grill learning: covering public grills with foil is indeed the move because they are kind of gross. But it's probably a good idea to cut vents so that the heat can actually make it through and cook the meat.

Is this too personal? Or is this what you're all here for? As I watched everyone hanging out in the cover of the tree as it rained and watched a large portion of the party start playing volleyball in the rain, I realized that they were all here to celebrate me. Somehow, they were convinced to be here at this random park by the river a ten minute walk from the nearest subway station to show up and have fun. It made me feel like I really have started to belong here. So to everyone who showed up or tried to make it, thank you all for being a part of my new home! I can't wait to see what the next years bring.

And few more for the road:

• A little rain can't hurt but be mindful of June
• Maybe buy some water for everyone next time
• Buy the $15 chimney starter ... it will save a lot of pain and confusion

Can't wait for the next grill!

museum of the week

I have yet again made the mistake of writing this newsletter the night before this is due. I apologize for the interruption in the scheduled programming.

anonymous subscriber news

I have been on a boat, just not a small motorized one I guess. It really does feel different!!! I did a sailing camp in middle school and while fun really is not the same as flying over the water like we did last week.

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• anon pesters: Has bro never been on a boat before???
• anon laments: My car was hit again. A hit and run. This state infuriates me.

animal of the week

Thank you to esteemed subscriber Carolyn Xu for submitting the iconic animal of the week eggs! Eggs is a chill and relaxed cutie who has very cute meows.

Send me your animal photos at ryan@torrtle.co OR at this form https://forms.gle/NT3nSkKVbpkjCr1u8!