16 Jun 2025 4 min read

things i think about while powerwashing 127

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I have returned home for a bit. This is the second time since moving across the country that I’ve returned, and I really missed this.

As much as I currently miss the liveliness of the city and the life I’ve made there (working from home and cafes there is just so much more interesting coffee quality is another discussion) I’ve missed the natural beauty that just seems accidentally interspersed throughout the Bay. Like today I went to the salt flats with esteemed subscribers Junghyun Choy, Magdalene Lam, Harish Bhaskar and Sophie Low (along with two non-subscribers). This was just a 20 minute drive from where we had lunch.

Isn’t that convenient!

When I hopped in my trusty car today, nothing surprised. Not the guy going 90 in the right lane, or new bike lanes (those were pretty cool). As naturally as water flows to the ocean, I found myself tracing the curves of the road with the steering wheel. Not really thinking, just letting the muscle memory slowly take over.

The dry summer arid flowing into my veins, reminding me that summer isn’t a humid mess everywhere in the world. The sun gently warming my skin as I sit in a bench waiting for some lawyers to show up at a boba shop. It feels perfect. I want it to be.

But it’s not perfect. Nowhere is. There’s inequality issues, a sort of boring dystopia nestled between the mountains and the wetlands. It costs so much to exist here. Earthquakes gently shake houses that seem to keep getting more expensive each week. The sun becomes engulfed in smoke.

Home is home, wherever it is. It doesn’t need to be perfect — I find that very rarely anything about any of our lives is perfect. They’re just facts. Where you were born. Where your mother lives now. So maybe the biggest thing I’ve learned since moving and coming back is that. That home will always be there, but I need to be away to grow.

Sometimes, it just is.

Now take this insane billboard I saw in SFO. Home is not perfect.

museum of the week

New York is interesting. It’s home to some of the most interesting, antique museums. Not to gatekeep, but they’re definitely deserving of the museum name. Because sometimes museums are a little more interactive. Are they still museums? Growing up we had the Tech Museum which is very little old stuff and more about interacting and learning. Are museums for learning? Showcasing? What are they for?

Is this what this journey is all about?

Fuck all those questions, says the Museum of Illusions in Chelsea. Just pay $40 to look at illusions here. And that I did — somewhat disappointingly — along with esteemed subscriber Connie Liou and their friend.

The inside is all the same shade of blue. No doubt some type of illusion. They have some setups for illusions that are pretty cool (pictures are mostly on film camera, sadly, I will have to post them later).

Maybe part of my disappointment stems from how when I did the one that makes you seem taller, I did not end up being any taller. Which is very disappointing, to those who know of my smaller stature. But I have accepted my fate. No illusion could soothe the pain of reality.

Uh anyway, there was some other cool stuff. Kaleidoscope, RGB room, room with a lot of mirrors. Doorway with mirrors. Eyes that follow you.

I don’t know who I’d recommend this to. But if I bring you here in the future I am truly interested in just spending time with you.