Ten Minutes from the Beach

Four Different Laughs

There's the one for your boss' jokes, the one for clients, the one for old friends — and the fourth one, which ambushed you last month, and which you apologized for. On who shows up when no one's watching.

What Do You Want?

You know your brother-in-law's steak order, your mother's side of the plane, and exactly who can't do onions. But what about you? Do you even know what you want for dinner? This one is about the strange thing that happened to your order.

The Friend Who Signs Your Paycheck

Somewhere today, a performance review is starting with the words "as your friend." On what people actually came to you for — and what they get when being liked feels more urgent than being that.

The Expensive Nod

No one has ever offered you a briefcase full of money to abandon your principles. It turns out convictions aren't bought in bulk — they're collected in installments, on hills you decided not to die on.

Where You End

The first thing life ever did was draw a line. Before it ate, before it moved — an edge, and then everything else. The Friday episode pulls the week together with some help from a membrane, a poem about a wall, and one question worth taking into the weekend.