Issue #104: Why (and How) I'm Buying a House of My Own

It's been a whirlwind.

Morning Person is a weekly newsletter packed with obsessively-curated recommendations and ideas—let’s get to it!

📺 “Hijack” on Apple TV+: In this real-time, seven-part thriller from the writer of “Lupin,” Sam (Idris Elba) is on a flight from London to Dubai when his plane is taken over by a group of hijackers. A professional corporate negotiator, Sam takes on the task of communicating between the hijackers and passengers. I’m only a few episodes in, but am already curious about the way the setting, a flight, allows the show to explore a diverse cross-section of people in a high-stakes situation.

🎧 “Search Engine” Podcast: This new podcast doesn’t discriminate between big questions (Why are drug dealers putting fentanyl in everything?) and small (Wait, should I not be drinking airplane coffee?). Although I thought I wasn’t interested in some of the questions—yeah, yeah airplane coffee is probably gross—creator PJ Vogt’s curiosity, persistence, and humor instantly hooked me. A perfect podcast for an unfun commute or long roadtrip, which is exactly how I made it through most of the episodes yesterday.

🎥 ‘Hunger’ on Netflix: For those not yet over “The Bear” (I finally finished the second season—took me a bit to get into, but it’s amazing), this intense Thai film, which I found through reporter Jin Yu Young’s recommendation, offers another take on the intensity of back-of-house. In it, Aoy leaves her family’s Bangkok noodle restaurant to accept a job as a chef at a fine-dining restaurant for the uber-rich. A similar “eat the rich” exploration that’s in recent movies like “Parasite,” “Triangle of Sadness,” and “The Menu.” You didn’t say corner!

If there is an option to jump into a lake or test the water first, I will always choose the flying leap. Though I’m cautious in many respects—I am a true Stability Type and will never jump anywhere remotely shallow—it’s thrilling to change states so quickly, from standing to flying to swimming. Growing up in Reno, I spent summers kicking off of boulders into Lake Tahoe’s blue, alpine waters. All you have to do is push off. Once mid-air, there’s no turning back. 

My life has been peppered with similar leaps: leaving New York for Los Angeles with two weeks’ notice for a job, moving to Portland mid-pandemic, adopting my mutt Toast, quitting my job to begin my Master’s in a different field, starting this newsletter, leaving my marriage. At every jump, I had no idea what the water would feel like, or if I would even remember how to swim.

When I had an offer accepted on a house this week, it felt, again, like being hurtled through the air.