things i think about while powerwashing 184

Most of my weekends are planned relatively well. Sometimes things line up and sometimes there are no things to do, so I just sit and rot. But some weekends, I get swept up in plans made in the spur of the moment.

Which is how I ended up biking 40 miles this weekend.

It started off easily enough. Just wrap some spring rolls for dinner with esteemed subscribers Jennifer Wang, Emily Ding and Kyven Lee. No! Apparently not that easy! Because during this very delicious dinner I was alerted to the fact that NYC Summer Streets — the yearly event where they close off over 20 miles of streets around the city — was returning this weekend!

So inspired by my friends' declaration that they were going to run part of it, I decided to run it back and bike the entire thing myself off the back of a pretty intense week of both work, lifting and biking. And so off I went — over the Brooklyn Bridge, through Chinatown and hordes of bikers and runners before getting a chance to breath around Morningside Heights.

Every time I ride these hills, I realize I have forgotten how hilly northern Manhattan is. Just gonna let the elevation graph do the talking here.

I ended the ride with some banh mi with Emily and Kyven, before wheeling over to my favorite coffee shop to hang out with esteemed subscriber Carolyn Xu (esteemed subscriber Seth McFarlane was busy finishing a project) and try out a new iced pour over (the Colombia Edison Argote Ombligon). Straight heat as always from Driftaway!!! And it came in a goblet.

The day ended with me biking over the Pulaski, cleaning up then collapsing onto my bed for like four hours before getting the energy to do anything else in the day. The malaise carried over into Sunday which I declared a "reading and rotting day". The day evolved in a fairly different direction full of cleaning, coffee (with Seth and Carolyn), and finally ... Cars.

Cars (the 2006 animated comedy film) is one of the masterpieces of our generation. Nothing — absolutely nothing — in the film implies that it was created pre-Occupy Wall Street. It's an American tale as old as America itself, where a small town falls behind in the times, is down on its luck. And that's where our protagonist Lightning McQueen comes in. He too, is down on his luck. He's a hotshot egomaniac rookie racer who refuses to work with anyone else. All he needs — and all he is — is speed.

Without spoiling this iconic movie (and hereby encouraging you all to watch it), I think the essence of life is in this movie. There's a scene that when you look back ... doesn't seem to be very fitting of a kids movie. Two very miserable cars that are drowning in their own insecurities, traumas and misery confront each other one decides to move on. Leaving the other to consider who the selfish one truly is.

Guys. This is in a movie that is CATEGORIZED AS A KIDS MOVIE. THIS IS HIGH DRAMA.

Anyway how did I get here? Esteemed subscribers Matt Jewison, Akshay Pawar and John Mema had me over for dinner and I cajoled us into watching Cars over Madagascar (sorry Akshay). Upon rewatch there's a lot more jokes and references for adults in the movie than one remembers (shoutout to Sally's "pin-striping" and the fans at the beginning of the movie).

Everyone. Please watch Cars. I know my only two serious movie recs are Surf's Up and Cars but trust me guys I KNOW BALL.

museum of the week

In a little mix-up this week we are having a guest correspondent on! Esteemed subscriber and Pokémon fan Serena Chang is reports to us from Chicago where she visited the Pokémon exhibition at the Field Museum of Natural History.

Q: Who are you and where did you go?
A: I went to the Pokemon Fossil Museum in Chicago. It’s an exhibit within the field museum

Q: What did you like the most about the museum?
A: I really liked the comparisons between the fossils in the game vs what the creators took inspiration from in real life. The pokemon fossil replicas were also super cool. They had all of the fossil pokemon in the game with their real life counterparts.

Q: Anything else you would like to say?
A: 10/10 museum, anyone who is a fan of pokemon should definately check it out!

Do YOU want to submit a museum visit? Fill out this form here!

anonymous subscriber news

To be fair my back posture is also pretty diabolical and I'm constantly leaning from one angle to the other. The only reason my back is remotely intact during the day are the occasional back workouts I happen to do.

Submit here: https://forms.gle/2MABf8jNr2V8kEY87

• anon adores: anon loves the book section!! and also loves a. a. milne
• anon yearns: I miss sim sim + almost my birthday!
• anon commiserates: To anon subscriber with the aching back: do you sit like a shrimp at work, I too, have back pain and need to fix my work posture

animal of the week

No animal pics today :(. Here is more Simba.

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