one. driving

According to the Mineta Transportation Institute, when the light turns green, drivers on their phones need 2.02 seconds on average to press the accelerator.

On the other hand, the fastest time in which you can react to a green light and step on the gas is about 0.35 seconds. In that 1.67-second gap, you can gain 13 meters. And then, when you turn your head to look at your mirrors, you'll see every other car shrink to a dot in your mirrors. This is one of the things I live for.

two. tako wasabi

An izakaya appetizer made of chopped raw octopus mixed with wasabi.

They don't make it themselves or anything, but Izakaya Wa is the place to get tako wasabi. The atmosphere is just right.

This dish is one of the reasons why I came back to Houston. Yesterday night, R told me about how each time you listen to a song, it's like adding a piece to a pendant whose pieces you can't count or see, but whose weight you feel. I feel the same way about the restaurants I frequent. Every time I go, I am reminded of every previous time, realities compounded onto each other, past selves rendered as foggy silhouettes sitting down at every other table in the restaurant. And every time I order tako wasabi, I have an inkling of all the previous times. I can't recount them all, but I can recall the first.

It felt like hell. It's funny, you can feel the wasabi in your head. Specifically the two spots where a gun finds you during a mugging: between your brows and the back of your head. After a few seconds, though, everything became clear. During our workouts, when I was near failure, H would ask me, "Do you see hell?" I would manage to get out a "yes" and hear "keep going." Four, five reps later, H would ask me if I now saw heaven. Yes, I saw heaven when I let go of that cable, and I saw heaven after my first tako wasabi.

three. breville

This home espresso machine offers expert nuance for the experienced user while not intimidating beginner baristas.

I used to think that my loves for fiction and design were incongruent with the person I should be. Now I am not sure if there is anything better than nurturing the self that you are by pursuing interests you truly like. I had to leave this interest—coffee making—at home. And to my Breville: sorry! I'm back now.

In the realm of coffee, I suppose coffee-making is hardcore. In the realm of coffee-making, though, I'm just an amateur. But we all know the root amateur comes from. That is to say, I love making my own espresso shots in the morning. The whir of the grinder, the metal-on-wood taps, the industrial extraction of the shot forms a rhythm, a rhythm that, after you drink the coffee, becomes part of you.

The machine looks upscale, but I'd argue there's nothing wrong with that. A said that people choose places, places shape people, and people go on to shape other people. I argue that people also choose items, and items shape people. Quality and esthetics are important in a coffee machine. And in love, and in life.