May the (Twenty) Fourth Be With You
plus: robots that reproduce, a Metaverse property worth millions and more reading recs
I love birthdays. It’s the one day of the year when you truly get to be the main character and everyone else can either get with it, or get out of the way. After all, to celebrate a birthday is to give someone a pat on the back for surviving another 365 days of life’s twisted antics, something millions of people don’t get to do. So pop that bubbly and shove that buttercream frosting into your mouth because honey, you deserve it!
That said, my birthday is the one day of the year where I’m filled with an overwhelming desire to walk around making everything about me. I like to think I’m tactful every other day of the year; I know how to communicate my own feelings, but if I don’t feel strongly about something, I put others’ wants and needs before my own if it makes them feel happy or seen. On my birthday, however, I love being on the receiving end of that for a change. These past few years I’ve been fortunate enough to have friends who think so, too.
Is that a lot of pressure to put on one day of the year? Um, yes. Is it an expectation from others that will likely end up in disappointment? Most definitely.
This year marked the first time I celebrated my birthday with family since high school. It was my mum and sibling’s first time in New York, so I made sure to give them a New York City experience that had me written all over it. (Think: trips to restaurants that gave my family a taste of the countries I visited in Europe, an ode to the happiest time of my life.)
But family affairs bring a layer of emotional baggage that feels heavier when distance isn’t there to lend a hand. Before long, I’d slipped into family counselor mode, breaking up petty arguments and becoming the designated group hype woman who had to constantly make sure no one got left behind. I usually don’t mind it if it means everyone’s feelings are heard and folks have a good time. I just didn’t expect to have to do it on my birthday.
The final dinner was a mix of family and friends. By that time, my social battery was on E, my mind was hazy with insecurities (why was I the only one checking in on everyone? Why did no one think to check in on me?) and I was doing my best to get through the night without crying when suddenly one of my friends asked me to share my words of wisdom going into my shiny new age of 24.
Wisdom? I chuckled nervously, my mind void of anything positive. Um, while I think of something, what if you all just went around and, oh I dunno, said nice things about me?
At this point it felt like such an awkward favor to ask everyone else to do, but I’m glad I did. Hearing everyone’s kind words made me feel seen for the first time that weekend. Even though my friends and sibling made me feel that way unprompted with their thoughtfulness and it’s weird to think sometimes I have to ask people to reciprocate the attention and solicitude I give them, it beats sitting around waiting for everyone else to figure it out.
I love birthdays. And while I still do think it’s important to listen to others and make sure folks are being seen and heard, I deserve to have the same on more days of the year than just my birthday. If there’s one thing I plan on doing it’s this: getting more comfortable calling people out when my own wants and needs aren’t being met. They’re just as important, and there’s more than enough space for the both of us.
Writing Update 📝
Pages Written: Still 0, but it’s because I’m in the Pre-Writing stage!
Good morning everyone! I hope your day is off to a better start than mine. I spent an alarming number of hours putting this week’s newsletter together, probably because I had to play catch up following the long holiday weekend. I don’t drink coffee like that but boy will I need it today.
Hot damn, how is it already December?! It’s nearly been a whole month since I officially launched this newsletter so I want to thank y’all again for being here! To all you new subscribers, welcome to my journey to writing a my first novel. As you can see from that “0 Pages Written” mentioned above, you haven’t missed much, though that’s only because I’ve been using this time to outline and jot down all kinds of notes.
I wanted to focus on storyboarding last week but I realized that’s kind of hard to do if I’m not familiar with the characters involved here. This past week I decided that I wanted to focus on my characters. I already have an idea of what I want the prologue and opening scene of the first chapter to be, but it’s been tricky to write when I don’t know who these people are and what they’re doing there.
As of writing this, I know I want my main character to be sarcastic and blunt, but I don’t know what her relationship is with technology and how it influences her decisions, which seems important since she’s living in a world where tech dominates many facets of her life. I’m also not entirely sure what she does for a living or if her job even exists in our world today. Right now I have written that she’s a freelance journalist who can work from anywhere, but I’m not married to that yet.
Stories that inspired me this week 🔗
Virtual real estate speculators notch another record deal — by T.P. Yeatts for The Real Deal.
I kid you not, an investor paid $4.3 million dollars for a virtual property in the Metaverse. $4.3 MILLION. Mind. Blowing. (Note: I’m also a reporter for The Real Deal.)
More Americans say they’re not planning to have a child, new poll says, as U.S. birthrate declines — by Annabelle Timsit for The Washington Post.
Americans won’t be able to fuel the population growth rate to the point where it can keep the economy afloat. Perhaps a dire need for more people could galvanize the U.S. to improve its immigration system in the future?
Africa’s Rising Cities: How Africa will become the center of the world’s urban future — by Max Bearak, Dylan Moriarty and Júlia Ledur for The Washington Post.
Some cities on the other hand, aren’t worried about low population rate issues, period. For one, Lagos, Nigeria, could become the world’s most populous city by 2100.
The 20 Most Livable Towns and Cities in America — by the Editors for Outside.
I haven’t been to many of these cities but there’s some good information here that could give me some idea when establishing setting.
Honorable mentions:
Fewer Americans want to have kids? These robots said, say no more.
If I didn’t live in an apartment, I’d ask this six-year-old for farming tips, ASAP.
Highlight from my reading this week 🌟
Y’all, I’m writing this at 5 o’clock in the morning. No long reads this week. That’s all for now, take care!