things i think about while powerwashing 73

Happy Saturday everyone!

In the future, I'm changing the schedule to be on Fridays instead because despite being more tired during the week, I feel like more people will open their emails on Fridays. And thus, the schedule will change.

That's not the main subject of this week's newsletter though — I want a definite source on the internet saying I am the owner of @ryanjengchen on Twitter, and I need to tell everybody that I can no longer access that account (despite reaching out to Twitter multiple times).

I started that account when it was still @stumpyeatsfood and mainly posted food (I have a dark past as a food instagrammer). When I joined The Exponent in my freshman year, they started publishing the Twitter handle alongside the slug. I tried to get @stumpyeatsfood printed on the paper at least once, and was forced by then-Editor in Chief Creighton Suter to change it to something a little more professional (born to @stumpyeatsfood, forced to use my government name).

And thus, @ryanjengchen was born.

It lived a good life. Whether it was acting in official Exponent capacity, tweeting out salary guide updates, or general life updates, it got some limited engagement. I once had a hit tweet about video game addiction. That was fun. Sometimes I got no responses to my tweets. That was a little disheartening. But it was my way of calling into the abyss in hopes of some type of virality.

But it was addicting. I would scroll and scroll, use Tweetdeck, scroll some more, have the live updates do the scrolling for me. I was a city reporter, but would spam my timeline with sports updates. It was a mess. I posted my good news, and sometimes some bad news. Lots of news, for sure.

After my time at Purdue/The Exponent it mainly turned into a weird blob of everything. Posting pictures, posting about basketball, everything. And it was still fairly addicting. And thanks to Elon Musk, I finally got off it.

Around a year ago, Elon Musk decreed that all Twitter accounts should be using 2FA over SMS — no other method possible. I noted this, and when the deadline to finally switch over came around, I was in Taiwan with a different SIM card. I watched, with a mixed sensation of horror and relief, as I failed to login over and over again.

Then I closed my laptop and went about my day.

In hindsight, I think it was good for everyone. I no longer had the temptation to Be Viral via Twitter and got the chance to fully transfer over to writing newsletters and using Instagram. I've actually pretty much deleted Instagram from my phone as well. I just use it via iPad and web.

So my original goal of getting off of Twitter finally succeeded. All it took was an eccentric billionaire making rash and fast decisions locking me out of my account.

anonymous subscriber news

Post your juiciest and most salacious gossip. We need pictures of spider man.
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• anonymous subscriber is now reading weyward by Emilia hart
• anonymous subscriber is just saying hi!
• anonymous subscriber got both of their ears pierced
• anonymous subscriber is very thankful Ryan shared the obituary from last week, and it has given them some peace :)

top 3 tunez: nathan cohen

Nathan relents, and contributes to content to this newsletter. Thank you esteemed subscriber Nathan Cohen! I will now present your songs:

• Nothing Matters - The Last Dinner Party - Everyone loves female rock bands. They are getting pretty popular
• Hoe Cakes - MF Doom - classic throw back. Has a great sample that I can’t get out of my head
• Beat Your Ear Drums - Perfect Confusion - as this song came up in my feed, I said, this sounds an awful lot like Cage the elephant. Turns out this band was the band formed before Cage the elephant. Anyways it rocks

animal of the week

from my friend - esteemed subscriber Jennifer Wang

This week's animal of the week is presented by Jennifer Wang! This is one cute cat. With an attitude. It has that type of look that probably makes it lethal during mealtimes. Beware all cats like this. Remember to send in your pet of the week to ryan @ torrtle. co!!!!