Thanks to A.J. for letting me share this week, and congrats to him for 10 years of continuous sobriety. My newsletter is here — free with an email address.

As I ease into a weekend vacation, my brain becomes so much more pliant. Like once the stress of my white collar job to-do lists, bullet points and revisions starts to fade, the rest of my brain gets eyes, feels and receives things. It’s almost like early sobriety, where concepts that feel simple take on a mythological importance.

This is what I thought of while listening to A.J.’s podcast with Megan Koester this week, specifically when she shares that for her, joy comes when something surprises and delights her. This struck me as such a clear definition of joy that acknowledges its ephemerality, even when it results in a lasting change in perspective. Even her example (at 47:25 of the podcast) brought me some joy in the same way. It had never occurred to me, either, that local TV programmers in Minnesota probably had a huge influence on shaping the sensibility of the Coen brothers.

When my brain eases up, I become that receptive myself. For example, early this morning an Instagram conversation sparked a realization in me that the reason I take photos of quotidian buildings and graffiti is because it’s a way to document things before the ongoing march of tech cash turns Austin neighborhoods into tall rectangles that push the boundaries of the city’s zoning laws. I’m not even opposed to wealthy NPCs moving into neighborhoods I once loved — they should be free to have boring taste wherever they want, provided they don’t impose it on others. I simply never realized that’s what I was doing with photos like this.