7 things I loved on the third week of February

Plus my latest multitasking hack

Hi there! This is my 7 things roundup of favorites that I will be sending every Sunday. Today’s roundup is available to view for all subscribers. Starting next week, these roundups will only be for paid subscribers. Hope you enjoy!

1. Toshiki Soejima, a vibey neo-soul Japanese guitarist. Listen while you work!

2. Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa, a tender Japanese novel recommended to me by my sister. This book will make you want to eat dorayaki. I also learned that leprosy is called Hansen's disease!

3. “Work, Anti-Work, and That Secret ‘Third Thing’” by

   Meghna Rao
   , which reminded me so much of the existential questions I was asking while working on my interview series Modern Doing.

   We can’t always afford to do good work. Not everyone’s stars line up like that. Good work can be a job. It can be everything you do outside of your job. It can be your side job that you turn into your real job, it can be your housework, taking care of a child, taking care of your parents.

4. A comic by

   Dabin Han
   about a long distance relationship tremor saved by the freezer

   Frozen Delight

5. Artist Kanako Abe's intricate paper cuttings, which I got to see at the Red Envelope Show last weekend (you can now see and buy all of the envelope art online). Kanako’s work is already sold out, as are my rest and free envelopes!

   

6. Getting my cable management “in order”, by which I mean stuff the power strip and attached cords into aesthetic boxes

7. Everything is Copy, a documentary on HBO about Nora Ephron directed by her son. She is who I most envision needs my “Sorry I’m a Writer” stickers (though she would never apologize!)

📢 Now, a question for you

What’s your multitasking hack? (I know we’re not supposed to but please, we all have one).

My recent new discovery is having my personal laptop connected to my monitor and having my work laptop open on my desk during morning hours to monitor Slack. I’ve been on-call this week (as an engineer, this means being by my work phone or laptop at all times in case any incidents or outages happen 😵‍💫) so my work-life boundaries are especially volatile. This tactic is my happy medium.