Month: September 2024

I went to two different new places this weekend. As my mother was staying with me, it was easier to justify doing things that I would not otherwise have done. With all of the necessary caveats about a small sample size, expectations did not correspond with enjoyment.

Late morning on Saturday, I decided we would drive out of the city to a spot with a taproom and a restaurant set overlooking a river. It is a brewery with something of a cult following locally and that specializes in a style of beer that is one of my favorites. I had wanted to go for some time but wanted someone with me. Not that my mother drinks beer (she doesn’t), but she still came along for the ride. It was a disappointment. They didn’t have the beer that I really wanted to try on tap, and I would only drink one of the four that I did try again. I still soldiered through and finished each of the four samplers, but I felt a little cheated.

Before lunch, we took a short walk along a trail on the riverbank. It was nice to see a turtle sunning on a log, but the deluge we’d received a few days prior left the trail muddier than I wanted so the walk only lasted about ten minutes each way. Lunch was good though not spectacular enough to merit the trip by itself and then we returned to Durham.

On Sunday, we went to a jazz brunch at a restaurant in a converted car service station serving Southern food. I had come across it in searching for restaurants at some point but hadn’t had the occasion to actually go. I thought a birthday brunch would be a fine opportunity, though, so I made a reservation. I had driven past the place several times but didn’t know what to expect inside and hadn’t even looked at the menu. And it ended up being a very pleasant meal. I was even chided a little at the meal’s conclusion by the people at the next table who thought I was planning on way too short a stay at the Duke Gardens that afternoon. As it turned out, we did not stay as long as they’d suggested was necessary. It is late summer after all so there weren’t as many plants still in bloom. Regardless, I’m glad that I showed my mother the grounds.

I watched The Menu this weekend. It was a movie I’d wanted to watch for some time after watching a review on a YouTube channel that breaks down the cinematography, sound, and direction of movies. Given the dearth of movies that I actually watch, it may seem strange that I watch videos about the artistry of movies. So be it; that’s what I enjoy. This is another one of the movies I’ve watched and now written about that is not for children or the squeamish.

The Menu is about an ultra-exclusive restaurant set on its own private island, the chef, the staff, and the diners. Through a single service, a single tasting menu, we are shown the mind of the chef and so many of the things that are flawed in the world of fancy restaurants. For regular readers, you’ll remember not too long ago that I wrote about another chef-related movie (Hunger) from Thailand. The two actually pair nicely and speak to many of the same deeper themes through the lens of haute cuisine.

At a more fundamental level, The Menu is a film about obsession and the state of humanity after postmodern deconstruction has wreaked havoc. The most poignant moment of the film is the response that Anya Taylor-Joy offers to the results of this nihilism playing out before her. It does not rise to the level of Alyosha interacting with his brother Ivan in The Brothers Karamazov (almost nothing does), but it is a flickering candle of hope that perhaps some of the magic of life can still be restored. I already knew the plot before watching the film but won’t spoil it for any readers who might be interested as I would have enjoyed the experience even more had I not known what was coming next. Even then, it was a film that rose and rose and rose up to its crescendo and then landed nicely in its dénouement.

Last weekend, both members of the firm traveled to Washington, D.C. for the Southeastern Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition Conference. It was a much larger event than I’d anticipated, perhaps 500 people or more in attendance across the two days. This was our third conference of the year so far, and our most targeted and important. Events like this one are the only times when we ever get to see our clients and referral partners in person. They are a chance to demonstrate our expertise in front of a large number of people. They are also completely exhausting for me. That is not the case for my business partner, but I write the newsletter.

Through our sponsorship, we were the only attorneys who were part of a substantive panel discussion during the event. Other attorneys acted as moderators, but unexpectedly our firm received top billing out of the law firms on the sponsor placard. I assume that we paid more for that privilege, but we wanted to present and that’s what we were able to do. There was probably a time when I would have been rather nervous sitting on a stage in front of an audience of hundreds of people, but that wasn’t the case on Saturday. My strongest recollection was a dislike for how my voice sounded through the sound system in the auditorium, a result of sounding different to myself than to anyone else and something that isn’t unique to me. Legal diligence is hardly the most exciting topic, but I tried to keep things light by playing off college basketball preferences during the introductions since there were MBA students from four main schools at the conference.

By the time the closing reception started on Saturday in the late afternoon, I was finished. During almost every conversation I had during the weekend, I was pouring out energy and answers to whomever I spoke. It was little use for me to try to mingle with people by the end, so I spent most of the hour and a half sitting on a bench inside with a lite version of a thousand yard stare. I still had multiple people come up to me to talk about either the information I’d discussed during the diligence panel or about how they’d enjoyed our ongoing webinar series we’re doing around legal issues in small business M&A. I had only positive interactions the whole weekend, but it was not a weekend filled with rest.

Something I did several months ago to try to regain more control over my time was to add friction to my experience of watching YouTube videos. I removed the YouTube app from both my phone and my television. I also installed a desktop extension so that I no longer see recommended videos. I only see the channels to which I’m subscribed and if I want to watch something else I have to type it in the search bar. Those things may seem silly, but they helped me cut down massively on the time I spend mindlessly watching videos.

This weekend, I was in a location with the YouTube app installed on the TV. It offered a great reminder of why I deleted the app from both the TV in my apartment and from my phone. On both Saturday and Sunday, I spent way too much time watching I don’t remember what travel or urban planning or whatever other video I picked to watch. This only added to the malaise I’ve been feeling, which was the last thing I needed. At least I’ve returned to a place without that particular black hole so I can start building again. We also now have enough work to let me feel productive most days, so I will lean into that and regain some solidity.