Pour Me A Story, Vol. 55
feat. Alijah Landing and a missed deadline
greetings friends! I bet you didn’t think you were gonna see this in your inboxes this week, huh?
it’s true that I missed my self-imposed deadline and publication time and that this is arriving approximately nine hours later than its regularly scheduled timeslot.
unfortunately after three consecutive days of feeling like 10 pounds of shit stuffed in a 5-pound bag to start the week, I took a telehealth doctor’s appointment to discuss a wild allergic reaction I’d had (think Will Smith’s face in Hitch). when I went to collect the prescription the doctor sent in for me, I started feeling the chills and some body aches, and I knew from unfortunate experience what that meant.
I raced home, took the covid test that Alex strategically left in the guest room for me, and within a matter of seconds it was reading a positive result. here we go again!
the first (and last) time I caught the bug was last summer, when I was not updating you fine people every week. that infection coincided with Alex’s mom and brother visiting, so there was no guest room to quarantine in for fear of getting the baby sick. needless to say this time was a little easier on everyone because I could isolate in the basement fairly well, and of course the baby has had a couple of vaccine shots so she has that extra layer of protection too.
symptoms have ultimately been fairly mild and the biggest annoyance is “spending three days in bed makes my already tricky back hurt more,” but that’s a great deal better than having to go to hospital or pick out a plot in the local cemetery. get those shots, folks!
the major downside, of course, is not being able to hang with my family and enjoy meals and playtime together. last night I got to sit by the guest room door and giggle for a few minutes while the baby played with her newest toy, a whoopee cushion, to great delight. it’s the little things, ya know?
Anyway, We Have Company
this week we get to hear from one of my all-time favorite former coworkers, Alijah Landing. we worked together on the social team at Finish Line in 2020-21 and I have never felt more like an old unfashionable man than when I’m in the presence of A. he was the first person to submit a response to the interview form, and since he’s a talented wordsmith as well, I’ll use the intro he wrote for a little extra context. turns out we both wrote similar things about him!
“Alijah is my third favorite former Finish Line coworker and one of top 100 writers I know. Dashing and charming, he’s a great friend and solid addition to any group chat. He currently makes a living as a Marketing Communications Manager at Cummins. When not working Alijah likes to spend his time in the gym, cooking, watching fine Cinema, vibing to Shawn Mendes/Harry Styles, and daydreaming about ‘fits.
Adrian Crawford: tell us who you are, where you're from, and a fun fact about yourself.
Alijah Landing: Alijah Malik Wiley Landing and I’m Louisville, KY’s fourth favorite son (Muhammad Ali, Jack Harlow, Bryson Tiller. Funish fact: I’m an only child (and it shows 😅)
AC: what has life looked like for you over the past few months? hurdles or achievements big or small? light at the end of a tunnel?
AL: Life has been a whirlwind. I made the professional switch from Lululemon to Cummins in November.
My neverwavering confidence in myself led me to believe that I could easily handle the learning curve…. I was wrong lol. So much new information about things I’d never considered before, but my team has been gracious and I’m enjoying the journey thus far.
Couple that with the holidays and a mountain of sneaker L’s and I’m dragging myself to the starting blocks of 2023.
AC: how do you see the next few months shaping up? what's on the horizon for you and yours?
AL: Looking forward to professional development, at past stops things came easy for me and I really didn’t have to try hard (apologies to any former coworkers reading this). This role is the first I’ve truly been challenged mentally and it’s exciting.
AC: what's something you've particularly enjoyed recently? could be anything from a funny tweet to a 27-course meal (if it's the latter, can I borrow some money).
AL: I had an exquisite Christmas with my family. My Harry Potter themed tree was a hit and seeing my mom so excited on Christmas warmed my usually cold heart.
AC: are there words you try to live by or an experience that's informed how you tackle problems or challenges?
AL: One of the earliest lessons my grandmother taught young Alijah was to never incriminate yourself. I carry that lesson with me to this day lol
A tad deeper than that, over the last I’ve learned to embrace the grind. Whether it’s in the gym or outside, learning to love the process and journey has helped to not freak out when life gets hard.
AC: what's the best sandwich you ever ate?
AL: Grilled chicken, pepperoni, bacon, and a healthy spread of marinara
AC: each edition's guest gets to choose the song of the week (or whatever the publishing interval is). is there a tune that's been on repeat for you recently, or has particular significance to you?
AL: First song that ever captioned my imagination sonically was Like I Love by Justin Timberlake and Clipse. The opening chords still put a smile on my face and it’s the first I play in every car or speaker I buy.
AC: the second special guest privilege is the Free Plug -- you can plug something meaningful or important to you or something infinitely less consequential. sky's the limit!
AL: I think I’ve been shameless plugging myself this entire interview. I’ll stop talking about me for a split sec and encourage all readers to get out there and vote. I know it can feel like your singular vote doesn’t matter, but like every rep in the gym, those votes add up. Do a little research and do your civic duty.
(Ed. note: he’s right you know!)
Trying Not To Make It Weird
since my little subscriber base has grown by a decent chunk over the past few weeks, I’m gonna throw a little housekeeping in here because folks ask me about it now and again (they go to a different school, in Canada, you don’t know them).
first and foremost, this is a free newsletter because frankly who would would pay for something that disappears without a trace for months at a time, and I don’t have the time or creativity to dedicate to making sure this is worth spending your hard-earned dollars on each month.
with that being said, if there’s ever an edition you particularly enjoy or you aren’t suffering post-pandemic tip fatigue, you are always more than welcome to throw a little change my way as though I were the guy playing violin in your subway station. I promise it’ll be squandered on renting movies on Amazon or chips or something equally useless.
Worthy Consumables
it stands to reason that the first worthy consumable is the covid-19 vaccine, because without all those shots I probably wouldn’t feel up to writing a couple thousand words within three days of a positive test. thanks, modern science!
but beyond that, when I woke up this morning I was struck by the absolute perfect contender for this segment, but when I looked around the room hours later I simply could not jog my memory on what that thing was.
not to be deterred, I have a terrifically worthy backup. as it happens, today has been retroactively named De La Day to commemorate the arrival on streaming platforms of seminal hip-hop group De La Soul’s entire discography. this doesn’t seem terribly momentous on face value, but when you consider that the group has been making music since 1989 and never appeared on a streaming music service until 2023, it makes you wonder. that’s made even more strange by the fact that their debut album, 3 Feet High and Rising, was inducted into the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry in 2011.
as the story goes, Warner Music wouldn’t release De La Soul’s back catalog to streaming services because the samples they used on those records were only cleared for use in physical media — remember “CDs?” — and thus weren’t eligible for streaming.
anyway now you can do what I did last night and this morning and take yourself a trip down memory lane, or experience for the first time the utter joy of 3 Feet High. my first memory of the group was using Me, Myself and I in a skit for a class project in 10th or 11th grade, a full decade after it was released, and being blown away by how catchy it was.
the first De La Soul album I bought was a two-pack with Stakes is High (1996) and AOI: Bionix (2001) at the huge Sanity record store in the Queen Street Mall back home some time in 2001. it was a Sunday and I remember being accompanied by my school pals Michael Woodland (now a vigorous conspiracy theorist, per Facebook) and Taryn Richardson (presumably not a conspiracy theorist). record stores really were a great place to hang out as a kid, but that’s definitely lost to the sands of time.
anyway! go load up your favorite music streaming app (I’m an Apple Music guy) and enjoy.
Parting Note
despite just waxing lyrical about De La Soul for six paragraphs, the song of the week still belongs to the special guest, so here’s Alijah’s pick (a banger, might I add).
thanks again for joining me this week pals, and apologies for the slight delay in proceedings. can’t wait to be back to mostly-full-strength next time around. but until then!
— adrian ✌🏻