flâneur

The strangers project: an FAQ - Alex Chueh

alexanderao.substack.com · 2,651 words · saved by 1 readers

When I tell people I meet someone new every day, I often get the same questions. This page is a repository of my answers! What sparked the project’s beginning? It’s summer of 2021. My college career — reduced to screen sharing and typed tests in its final months — has ended unceremoniously. I land a work-from-home job, taking meetings one door down from my parents’ bedroom. Life’s daily rhythms have reset to high school. Despite being a curious child, social adventures were few and far between in my youth. On campus I made gradual strides toward piercing my self-imposed bubble; the pandemic made it clear I had unfinished business. Now I was socially directionless, with little impetus to reconnect with faint childhood acquaintances and a six-hour flight separating me from newer friends. I hated the idea of relying on events to meet people, feigning interest in rec sports or book clubs to have an excuse to talk. I yearned to recreate the childlike spontaneity I didn’t see anymore — to ma

When I tell people I meet someone new every day, I often get the same questions. This page is a repository of my answers! What sparked the project’s beginning? It’s summer of 2021. My college career — reduced to screen sharing and typed tests in its final months — has ended unceremoniously. I land a work-from-home job, taking meetings one door down from my parents’ bedroom. Life’s daily rhythms have reset to high school. Despite being a curious child, social adventures were few and far between in my youth. On campus I made gradual strides toward piercing my self-imposed bubble; the…

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