👞✉️ Shusletter Twosletter

Happy hump day! Welcome back to the shusletter, the #2 edition of the #1 Shumaker-centric newsletter! This shusletter has had the shortest turnaround time of a shusletter yet, so sorry if it’s shorter than I wanted the it to be, but I’m sure you’ll still enjoy it. Next week’s will be great.

Thanks for sticking around and staying up-to-date with everything shusletter.

this week’s anthem

( apple music / spotify )

…is “25 or 6 to 4,” by Chicago. Another old song this week, which is gonna be a common theme (I’ve always loved 70s and 80s songs). I picked this song not just because I love this song, but because of what it’s about. The title is referring to the time being 25 or 6 minutes until 4 AM and trying to write a song, and that perfectly encapsulates me, right now, staying up writing the shusletter.

what’s up

Recently I’ve been asked what my favorite TV show is from an oddly large number of people. I’ve never had a solid answer, but the TV shows that always come straight to mind are sitcoms. They’re the easiest to get into, they hook you in, and you fall in love with the characters, setting, and everything else about it (if the show is good). The first show I ever binged was a British comedy called The IT Crowd, which I still think is one of the funniest shows I’ve ever seen. I followed that up with another British comedy called Toast of London, which I’ve rewatched three or four times now, The Office, Arrested Development, Parks & Recreation, Kim’s Convenience, Community, Modern Family, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and many more. I’m always able fall back on sitcoms.

I mean, I love watching drama shows too. I’m not going to list the ones that I’ve watched, but I’ve seen some. I get immersed in dramas and get lost in whatever world they want me to, but it’s never the same as sitcoms (Note: I’m excluding movies and TV shows spun off from movies just to simplify this, because I don’t want to write a twelve-page essay on Star Wars shows, but I probably will end up doing it someday anyway). Good sitcoms have a consistent yet unique formula, and great sitcoms branch out from that. Shows like Community that move past the genre entirely and become their own type of show altogether inspire me, and shows like Arrested Development that come up with the cleverest running gags that perpetually build on each other episode upon episode bring me some of the purest joy in the world.

What’s beautiful about these kinds of shows, too, is the accessibility of them that breeds social interaction outside of just watching them together. Being able to use the jokes from the sitcoms or use this shared experience to bring people closer is what I find perfect about sitcoms. All I really wanted to say with this rambling mess of an essay is that sitcoms bring me joy, and I want to share that joy with you.

No, I’ve not seen Friends.

this week in shumaker history

• On Feb. 5th, 2022 AD/CE No, I wasn’t pregnant, I had COVID. The tests were handed out before GDA rehearsal, and my Test line turned red the second I put the droplet into it. Yeah, this is really the only thing that happened this week in Shumaker history.

• On Feb. 4th, 1 B.S. (Before Shumaker), Facebook (now Meta), was founded. Internet privacy has never been the same 🥰.

• On Feb. 6th, 53 B.S. Elizabeth II became the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Her reign did not last for long, only lasting 70 years.

• On Feb. 8th, 418 B.S. Mary, Queen of Scots was beheaded. Whoops!

what’s up with the rat patrol?

I haven’t had time to write anything new about the Rat Patrol, so here’s a short story I wrote for a creative writing class I’m not a part of, called Rat Patrol: Richwood. I really like it and think the jokes are all hilarious, even if it is a bit off-pace at times. Doesn’t make it any less funny though.

fictional city of the week

lincoln nebraska

links

I’ve only got one link because I’m really tired and was searching for one but would rather have quality over quantity. But this link is so cool that it makes up for all of that. You know crows? The little bird fellas that fly around every so often? Well have you every wanted to BEFRIEND A CROW? WHAT? NO WAY. WOW. I FOUND A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE ON HOW TO DO JUST THAT. Okay, maybe the steps are really weird and incredibly nonspecific but that doesn’t mean that I love the concept of becoming friends with a little bird fella. Birds are so cool, they’re my favorite type of flying animal. Birds.

• Personal note: I think pigeons are overhated. Sorry for the hot take but they’re just so chill and funny. They bob their heads when they walk and are just like yo man whats got you so upbeat they’re just birding around. They’re so groovy. Some people call them sky rats, and I wholeheartedly agree, but I don’t think that’s an insult. But that’s coming from the creator of the Rat Patrol so who’s to say.

Also, I lied about only having one link, because there is one more that I found last minute that is really cool. This Brazilian architect Arthur Casas (I know, it’s such a good name for an architect) makes really cool looking houses and buildings. His new “Bioma Building” is one of the coolest buildings I’ve seen in a while, and makes me hope we’ll have more greenery in our cities like this in the future. All of his other works look really cool too, but I haven’t looked at all of them yet. I’m really looking forward to it, though.

Thanks for reading the second issue of the shusletter. Sorry that it’s shorter and probably more rambly than it should be, but that’s what the shusletter is and I’m glad it’s like that. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading the second edition as much as I did writing it.

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