Category: Around the World
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Pineapples, pizza, and possibility
Do you like pineapples on your pizza? The style is known as a Hawaiian pizza, and it’s a polarizing topic. For example, the former president of Iceland joked that he’d ban pineapples on pizza if he could. When I lived in New York City, I searched far and wide before finding a half decent restaurant…
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Music is a buoy in the seas of time and space
What new music do you listen to when you travel? Because if it goes well together, there’s a good chance that your brain will naturally associate it with the place. You can tap into this by being open to what’s around you, as well. In one of our first weeks living in New York City,…
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When you change your routines up, you slow time down
I used to work as a writer for Lifehacker. A couple of years before that gig, I’d already started writing guest posts for them. I wrote the first of these while I was a student, about how our brains perceive time. I was curious about it because I noticed people older than me always saying…
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A place is a tool that people maintain
A place is a tool. The library helps you focus and work. The gym helps you work out. Your home helps you relax and unwind. A nice restaurant is a tool for you to get together with friends and family, share a meal, and create a new experience. If you walked into a nice restaurant,…
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Make your place interesting
If you want to do interesting things in your town or city, you’ll need to do homework. You might be signing up for local newsletters, checking out event calendars, or just walking around and observing. If there isn’t anything that’s interesting, your homework will be to start an event. There will always be people looking…
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Reality vs. possibility
I recently moved out of NYC. The way I was set up there simply wasn’t working. For example, by the time I wrapped up work, I felt depleted, without the energy to respond to a city that was calling out. Just a week after leaving, and wrapping up my job, the possibilities are starting to…
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Hell’s Kitchen
A year ago, my partner and I watched a musical called Hell’s Kitchen. It was created by Alicia Keys, with a storyline loosely based on her life and anchored by her songs. The musical made a really strong impression on me. Even though I was already familiar with her music, the characters, the screenplay, and…
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Graduation eyes
I first heard about this term in the context of graduating from school. Because your everyday routines are about to change—the coffee stand you visited before your classes, the booth in your favorite library, the river you pass by on the walk to school—they also become more special. Not only this: you’re about to enter…
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NYC by foot, ferry, or car
My wife and I live in the Financial District, downtown New York City. Earlier this year, we decided to stop riding the subway. Here’s what that has been like so far: The subway, by far, is the fastest way around the city. Getting around usually takes more money or time now—usually a lot more of…