Good morning, fam!

Remember last week when I said I was ready for fall? Well, thanks to massive waves of corporate-sponsored FOMO, the seasons are no longer based on Earth’s orbit around the sun. Everything’s made up, the points don’t matter, and September 1st is now officially the beginning of fall.

In other words, Starbucks opened up the PSL floodgates and now we’re all drowning in pumpkin spice.

And yes, your boy was right there waiting in line with everyone else, grubby little hands reaching out for that sweet, syrupy goodness.

While I inject PSL directly into my body intravenously, enjoy this week’s recs.

Get out that little red wagon, open a fresh box of Pumpkin Spice Cheerios, and let’s get into it!

Here’s what I have for you this morning:

After hearing about this book for ages, I finally picked up Klara and the Sun and I can see why Kazuo Ishiguro won a Nobel Prize in Literature. The book examines human interaction through Klara, an artificial friend (AF) who meets a young girl named Josie. Yeah, this is some deep shit.
As a treat for wrapping up one crazy week filled with presentations and a virtual talk, I finally got Saints Row for PS5. After playing for only a little bit, it reminds me of the good ‘ol days playing Saints Row 3 back in college. It’s basically Grand Theft Auto if it was a cartoon.
Like everyone else on planet Earth, we watched the first episode of House of the Dragon and it made me nostalgic for Game of Thrones. Nothing like gratuitous violence, misogyny, and CGI dragons to remind you of the “good ‘ol days.”
I was serious when I said I was at Starbucks first thing in the morning on September 1st. Instead of going with the standard PSL, I opted for the Pumpkin Spice Cold Brew (with almond milk because I’m a millennial and my sensitive tummy can’t handle the real stuff.) It was perfect - not too sweet, just the right amount of spice.
While moseying around our neighborhood, I popped into Wild Olive Provisions (a bougie corner market) and stumbled across the cutest thing: Two Stacks “Dram in a Can” They’re tiny 100ml cans filled with some of the smoothest Irish whiskey I’ve ever had. It was the perfect way to kick off the long weekend.
I gave a virtual talk on UX writing for STLX, a local meetup for helping people break into UX design. If you wanna learn more, download the talk from my website.
No offense, but are you even fun?
Here’s a handy, dandy resource for all the other adults out there who have no idea what they hell they’re doing.
This is my favorite question to ask during any interview.
What do Love Island UK and corporate America have in common?

You made it to the end! As a bonus, I’ll leave you with this.

Cheers,
Billy

Saturday Morning Cartoons #13