The joy of missing out

Forget FOMO, this is about JOMO!

Helloooooo! 

I was recently reminded of the ancient Greek word kakotherēs, which means “unsuitable for summer heat.” WHAT A PERFECT WORD. There’s a lot to love about summer, but I, for one, am finding an abundance of ease as temperatures cool down. I love to revel in a morning shiver!!! (Remind me of this in January and I will roll my eyes at you!) 

HOW COOL ARE STARS THOUGH

On FOMO (and JOMO)

Someone recently told me they were scared of signing up to read the fall books edition of this newsletter because of all the FOMO they’d experience. 

I was like, “WHAT DOES THAT MEAN,” and they said “because I won’t have time to read every book you talk about” and it kind of broke my heart!!! 

(If you’re avoiding something because you’re worried about FOMO, is that technically FOFOMO?)

TO BE CLEAR, I don’t expect you to read every book I talk about! I DO NOT READ EVERY BOOK I TALK ABOUT! What I’m trying to do is offer up a little something for everyone. Then you get to choose how you spend your time and what you will actually enjoy! 

It’s sort of like what yoga teachers or energy readers might tell you -- take what works, and leave the rest. Not everything will speak to you all the time. THAT’S OKAY. It would probably be kind of weird if it did! The idea is to be PATIENT WITH YOURSELF, know what you’re up for and what you’re into, and make some good choices from there! 

I have always loved the idea of JOMO, JOY of missing out, because I am deeply introverted. But in this context, JOMO also invites the idea that missing out on some things actually means getting to really, truly, properly appreciate other things. Life is too short not to!!!

(I have since asked the FOMO person if they’d be ok with me writing about this in the newsletter, and they said that was fine, and that they’d have to subscribe now that I was telling this story, so MISSION COMPLETE, I was able to coerce another person into signing up for this thing!)

With that said, here’s some stuff you might like. Or not! You get to decide!!! 

Birds

Thanks to GRETAGRAM reader Andrea who suggested this bird migration tracking website as a delight! 

Television

I’ve been recovering from COVID all week, which means watching more TV than I usually do. I finally dove into the French Netflix show Call My Agent!, which is deliciously chaotic. Chris and I are enjoying Bad Monkey on Apple TV+, I think mostly because Vince Vaughn is Vince Vaughn. 

And I absolutely devoured The Perfect Couple, the soapy new murder miniseries on Netflix. It has by far the most incongruous opening credits sequence for a murder mystery, and I am eternally grateful for the work of Vulture TV critic Kathryn VanArendonk for writing the stories my brain needs to see in the world. 

When I was two episodes into the show, I couldn’t figure out who one of the (very familiar) actors was, so I Googled, “Who is the actor who plays [redacted]?” And Google AI, in its infinite wisdom, said “That’s the murderer!” I kept watching anyway, and I’d say it’s a good sign that I enjoyed the show despite having accidentally spoiled it for myself. 

A delicious, quick read

I mentioned it in last week’s fall books roundup, but now that I’m just over halfway into it, I’d like to confirm that I am indeed a big fan of Alexandra Romanoff’s Big Fan, which came out on Tuesday. It’s a big-hearted rom com that takes fandom seriously. It’s steamy, it’s sweet, and it also just happens to have a solid throughline about universal basic income!!! What more do you really want???

September book club: save the date!

The people have spoken, and we’ll be discussing Danzy Senna’s book Colored Television on Sunday, September 29 at noon central time! Send me an email at greta m johnsen at gmail dot com if you’d like to come and I’ll get you the zoom link.

Talk to you next week!

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