Mail Day Part 1 & Mortal Kombat with Stocks

My son’s learning sax over in the Temescal part of Oakland; I’ve learned the bar next store’s (Tallboy’s) cheat code: show up at golden hour, grab the best corner table, and bail just before the hipster meat market begins. The place is chaos at night but if you hit it right, the light comes in sideways, the soda water hits different, and you can read Brubaker & Phillips’ The Knives like it’s a holy text.

Also: I FINALLY packed up the first batch of BINARY comics for you Kickstarter backers. The stack on my dining room table looked like I was running a rogue USPS branch. They’re going out. For real.

Couple things rattling around my notebook this week:

• Fashion: Aime Leon Dore caught my eye this week. The crew over there continues to make clothes that look like they belong to a grandpa who’s also an international art thief.

• Metrics: Five numbers worth checking every month—traffic sources, conversion rate, engagement rate, watch time, and shares/saves. Basically: where are people coming from, do they stick around, and do they care enough to send it to their cousin.

• Business moves: I fought MUFG, Schwab, and some mysterious ISIN number like it was a Mortal Kombat tournament. Pretty sure I unlocked Shujinko.

• TWIN STAR: prototype creeping forward.

Mostly though, I’m just grateful. Sax lessons. Soda water. Comics in the mail. A little rhythm sneaking back into life.

Here’s to more Thursdays that feel like cheat codes.