📣 short stories
One time we surprised a colleague in Miami with Art Basel…
sent him his tickets as he was arriving to his airport, and sent him on a layover to South Carolina to throw off the trail of where he was actually headed
One time we had a surprise board meeting in Spain…
Everyone was invited but no one could swing making it work but there was no way I was going to miss that opportunity so I pretended I couldn’t go but showed up in surprise anyway
One time we overpaid an executive producer to take our NFT strategy to market but…
he didn’t know how to use Zoom or screen share and when I gave condolences about a family pet’s death he shared that “The family pet is doing better. She is an older rabbit named Georgie. She was on her death bed. When my wife burned some sage over her she sprung to life. I don’t believe in hocus-pocus but I don’t know.”
Impactful yet obvious epiphany on a flight in American Airlines first class from NYC to Miami…
I want to continue learning and growing forever
I want to experience everything I find interesting that this world and life has to offer I’m going to die at some undetermined time. Im not guaranteed old age. I have no idea how much time I have to enjoy any of this. I’m not afraid of it. But I am aware of it. I want to learn how humans think; so I can understand how I think. I like my brain more and more these days.
📣 longer short stories
I was balancing on one leg at the end of the TSA security belt…
putting on my white boots and in line this chatty dad told me he liked my storm trooper boots. I politely laughed and went on. A kind girl with smiling eyes above her mask stood behind me in the long Starbucks line at gate 21 of terminal 2. He joined behind her. He wasted no time to tell her:
He visited Disneyland and Medieval Times with his wife and 3 kids
Youngest is autistic
They were delayed with return flight and many logistics problems but oh well right — that’s life!!!!! Laughing heartily
He’s religious, prayed to his god and saints, and a person in another country left a broken message on his voicemail explaining the air travel mishaps
They were rerouted from their direct to Seattle to Vancouver but didn’t have their daughter’s passport so it was a problem
The girl starts chiming in more about herself. It’s great because it’s been 90% him thus far. He takes up a lot of space. Wonder why
She is traveling to Nashville and omg he interrupts - that’s a bucket list item for him and his wife
His name is Trevor and hers is Becky
She loves espresso and has he tried the nitro here? She has an espresso machine at home
However, she is not Italian
Her Fiancé is bougie about espresso machines
They’d been together 5 years
His name is Trevor and hers is Becky
Details on how she makes espresso and how she had to learn the hard way
Considered opening a bubble tea shop
He lives in a rural agricultural area 1 hour east of Vancouver known for corn and 30,000 people live there
It rains a lot but the winters aren’t hard but they had a lot of flooding in valley which was hard for farmers
Things are unstable and she thinks that’s crazy and life is hard
He asked about her family plans (I cringe), she happily shares that she’s always wanted a big family but is fearful of the future
Just got engaged in August but waiting until after her sister’s wedding or maybe will elope
She is changing careers from massage therapy to nursing
He wanted to know if she was sure that was ok but she’s certain, she’s drawn to women’s health in particular
I anticipate this will be a point of conflict: she’s going to claim pro-choice and he’ll claim pro-life and that’ll be it forever
He and his wife waited 8 years before having kids for many reasons. They thought they were done with 2 but surprise a third. Because they wanted to be sure there were backups to take care of them when they are old
She says he’s cool and likes his humor, laughs a lot. Is she for real or polite? We’ll never know
He loves Palm Springs and the desert, they go there often
They both weren’t sure if it was Thursday today — ha ha ha so funny to both of them
More about 80–90 degree weather
She finds that awesome
She’s going to Joshua Tree, loves it out there and a music festival is happening, not Coachella. Folky psychedelic intimate 1500 person festival and she is SO excited. 4 days of camping and her friend is passionate about music and sent out an invite
Burning Man is on her bucket list
He’s getting uncomfortable but has a brother that went once
Omg they stopped talking
There’s a lull now
She’s on her phone
Burning Man f*cked him up — he fell off a cliff
ITS OVER
I’m 3 away from the cashier
They’re still not talking!!!!!! Wow what a ride.
He called his wife to ask if she wants banana bread
He can’t handle the silence
The air is pregnant with tension
Burning Man ruined everything about this intense outlay of energy
All this conversation while approximately 35 people came and went at Starbucks at Gate 21 in Terminal 2.
I’m held hostage with suspense if they’ll exchange contacts of any kind — Facebook? LinkedIn? Numbers??
No. They are still silent.
It ended as passionately as it began.
I’m going to order a sausage egg and cheese sandwich and it reminds me of when me and Abraham got the same one when he was sick but I still handed him his iPhone and we both remarked how delicious the sandwich was. I’m not sure where. Was that in L.A.?
They broke the silence in favor of small talk about pastries! They’ve lost the spark. It took 32 minutes.
I head to my gate. You had no idea how fun that was, Trevor and Becky.
📝 Post note:
I’m going back and editing a few sloppy typos on my phone. My phone is at normal brightness. My dream is for one of them to catch me, read over my shoulder somehow and realize this is about them. This assumes they have the same curious voyeuristic thrills as me. His wife just passed in front of me while typing this. She has no idea she’s on my mind and in my phone notes now. What a life