I was living in San Francisco when I flew trapeze for the first time. I was looking for a new workout on ClassPass and saw that the Circus Center in San Francisco offered flying trapeze and aerial arts for beginners. My personal motto is that I will try anything once, and sometimes twice if it’s fun. I also saw trapeze on a Sex and the City episode and thought, if Carrie Bradshaw can do it, I can do it. So that was that, and I signed up for circus school (by myself. None of my friends would do it with me and I can’t really blame them).
If you were ever wondering, this is what happens in circus class: The instructor demonstrates a move on the trapeze that looks absolutely horrifying. You watch and think, this guy can’t be serious. Then you think, “I don’t think I’m qualified to be doing that.” You realize you’ve said that out loud, and the class laughs because they think you’re being funny. You are being 110% serious. Then before you know it, you’re hanging upside down by your knees and you’re not sure how your life brought you to that point. But there you are, and somehow your unqualified self did the trick that you genuinely didn’t think you could do five minutes earlier. By the time you land in the safety net, you already want to be back in the air.
Photo by Andrés Canchón on Unsplash.
When I flew trapeze for the first time (see a video from my very first class here) it felt right, which also felt weird. Because how can something like flying trapeze feel natural? But somehow my ballet training kicked in, even 20 feet off the ground. Plus, when you’re in the air, you’re not thinking about anything else. I love a good challenge, and there is nothing like going out of your comfort zone and actually enjoying yourself so much that it hits pause on everything else going on in your life, including taxes. It’s a strange paradox, but heights are where I feel the most grounded.
Even if aerial acrobatics sounds like not your thing, this is probably true of any hobby that’s as immersive and surreal and chaotic as flying on a trapeze. The takeaway here is that you should find your circus, whether it be scuba diving or extreme ironing (pretty much what it sounds like), and let it take you out of real life for an hour.
Now that I’m here in Denver, naturally I had to find another circus school. Somehow I lucked out and the Denver Circus Collective is five minutes away from my apartment, where I continue to circus. I try to circus as often as I can circus, and if you’re reading this feel free to come circus with me! It’s a good workout and I promise there won’t be clowns.
On to the news part of the newsletter:
Self-checkout sucks and we all know it. The stores know it. Shoppers know it. We all hate the dreaded “Please wait for assistance” message. Retailers are trying out different technology to make the process less frustrating. (Wall Street Journal)
Why Are All the Cool Teens Wearing This Niagara Falls Sweatshirt? An investigation into why a random Brandy Melville sweatshirt became a hot trend. The short answer, as always, is Kendall Jenner. (The Strategist)
HQ Trivia shut down after it wasn’t able to get more funding. It was fun while it lasted, but maybe it’s not the best business model to give away your investors’ money to the masses. (TechCrunch)
UPDATE ^ The HQ founder tweeted that he found a new buyer and that HQ will "live on.” Stay tuned.
No One Can Explain Why Planes Stay In The Air: Apparently we STILL don’t know how planes can fly. No one can agree on an explanation, which means since the invention of flight we have been saying “I don’t know why this works, but this works, so we’re just gonna go with it.” (Scientific American)
A Ballerina’s Nightmare: ‘Am I More Than Just a Dancer?’: New York City Ballet star Tiler Peck suffered a debilitating neck injury that threatened her dance career. She was forced to ask herself, without dance, who was she? This profile is a great read on where we get our identity from. (New York Times)
Speaking of dance, psychologists did a study on which dance moves are more attractive. I can’t say I agree with the results, but can you really argue with science? Anyways, watch the ridiculous videos of the dancing avatars they used for the experiment and you won’t regret it. (Good Magazine)
The weirdest Subway restaurant in America is located in Hogan’s Alley — a fake town used for FBI training. (Wall Street Journal)
“His slice of the sport, more than anything else, is about continuing forward as everything goes wrong.” An ultrarunning champion (this guy runs for hundreds of miles at a time) trains for his first marathon, in the bid to win a spot in the Olympics. (New York Times).
My Latest Obsessions:
The new Lego Masters show. I am biased because not only did I grow up building Legos, but also because I grew up literally 5 minutes away from the Legoland California theme park, and then I even worked at Legoland in high school (more on that experience in a future newsletter). Lego has both entertained me and employed me, so I’m a loyal fan. Lego Masters is one of those competition shows like Chopped and Project Runway, except for Legos. Two weeks in I’m already hooked.
Fish tank design. Chris decided it was time to buy an aquarium. I’m thinking we do a ski resort theme and put a little mini mountain in there, but I can’t find any mountain figurines. Backup plan is either SpongeBob or outer space.
Piano. Our apartment is getting pretty full of hobbies at this point (we have a bike, ski stuff, the fish tank, a dartboard, a bar cart) and I also recently added a keyboard. If I can’t go to Piano Bar at Mizzou, I might as well bring the Piano Bar to my apartment and play some classic Piano bar tunes like Ignition, Mr. Brightside and The Real Slim Shady. I have the whole set list memorized COLD.
Cosmic Encounter. If you take your board games seriously, here’s a new one for you that isn’t so new — Cosmic Encounter has been around since the 70’s. Basically you and the other players are aliens and you have to either attack or negotiate with them to colonize other planets. It is definitely as nerdy as it sounds. 10/10 recommend.
Chris Quote of the Week:
“I don’t think I like this show.” - Chris, after watching last night’s episode of The Bachelor. I think he speaks for all of Bachelor Nation this season. The Ringer also did an excellent in-depth recap if you’re willing to relive the horror.
Hop Take: Craft Beer Pick of the Week
The story with this one is that Chris discovered a deli near our apartment that does a sandwich-and-beer deal, and this was one of the beer options. It did not disappoint. It’s your basic American lager but for some reason tastes better than Bud Light. An interesting detail to note is that the Upslope website tells us we should pair this beer with Chinese food, fish tacos and salad. I’m puzzled, but in case you needed any food recommendations, there you go.
May the rest of your week be filled with Bachelor recaps and board games. For more next week, subscribe below!
Cheers,
A