On what it means to be interesting

and the question of whether newness is the point

Hello fellow learn-it-all 👋

Greetings from sunny Palm Springs, California ☀️

I tagged along on my parents’ MLK long weekend trip to Palm Springs for some sunshine.

It was a headache getting here with the plane being de-iced a couple of times, and the tarmac in Detroit needing to be snowplowed three hours later to take off, and then having to spend the night in Salt Lake City. It makes the sunshine all the more grateful! As I disembarked the plane there was no slurf needed. I peeled off my sweater and never thought I’d be so happy to be in a dessert. Never been to a desert before. Excited to see what unfolds this weekend at the sights of Joshua Tree National Park!

Anywho, when I was studying the map on the plane’s screen yesterday, I somehow flipped the globe around accidentally without realizing it and was perplexed for a few moments. The map looked so interesting. I was so confused and surprised by what it was like to have Antarctica on top rather than on the bottom. It became a lot more interesting.

Then that led me to start journaling philosophically about what even makes something interesting?

This led me to write this week’s letter. It just poured out of me, and I’m excited to share it with you!

Now, let’s dive into letter 297 from a learn-it-all. Enjoy!

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❓Question to think about

What does it mean to be interesting?

🖊️Writing

When I was younger, I only wanted to journal when I was traveling.

Not every day. Not after school. Not when life felt repetitive or expected.

Only when things felt interesting.

Which usually meant spring break. Vacations. March.

Days that felt out of the ordinary. When there was no homework. When I befriended strangers on the plane to Florida by making them string bracelets. Days when I swam for fun instead of for practice. When I snuck into the Holiday Inn jacuzzi to turn into a prune. When I hunted for full conch shells on the beach with my sister. When I hung out with cousins outside of Christmas. When I stayed up late watching movies. When I ate Lucky Charms every single morning, not just on Fridays. When I played at Boomers Arcade. When I played Kings in the Corner all morning, and boogie boarded in the Atlantic all afternoon. When I would get sea lice then still go back into the ocean. And when I’d get sunburn, put on dad’s t-shirt as a dress and go back swimming anyway.

Even then at the age around ten, I was already learning something about myself:

newness made things interesting.

Interesting meant different. Interesting meant special and rare. Interesting meant I might not get this experience again.

Which makes me wonder:

Is novelty the main source of making something interesting?

Invention comes from novelty. Curiosity stems from the delight of novelty. New questions, sometimes even small ones, I journal about at night, can quietly recalibrate my attention and change my life.

So what actually makes something interesting?

Is it that it’s counterintuitive?
Is it misalignment with logic?
Confusing in a way that makes me scratch my chin?
In accordance with my values?
Or against an institution’s belief? Like the surprise of Galileo, who noticed the Earth revolves around the Sun rather than the other way?
Is it something that is symmetrical, like a model, and therefore is more beautiful? 
Is it a conversation that's less conventional, making me want to eavesdrop to be surprised even more?
Or maybe there’s drama that makes me also want to lean in?
Mystery?
Or a football game where there’s a lot of rivalry, creating suspense and a richer sense of entertainment?
A fresh dynamic with someone on a first date, with the opportunity for reinvention and a new way of sharing the story of oneself?

Why does this getting to the core of this conundrum on interest even matter?

Because how we live life flows downstream from what we find interesting.

Where we live. Who we talk to. What we read. Where we linger. What we choose to notice.

~~~

Yesterday, I was on a plane with my parents.

I looked down at the map on the screen that I accidentally turned upside down.

Completely disorienting.

Suddenly, familiar places felt foreign. Unknown. Almost thrilling.

Then I looked out the window and saw the Smoky Mountains below us.

Mom, Dad and me oohed and aahed, like we’d never seen mountains before. We grew up in a town that has “The Hill” and that is the only elevated surface in the whole city.

We saw snow on some ridges, none on others. Untouched. Quiet. No skiers. No footprints.

My dad pointed to a single winding road in the middle of the desert and said, “When I retire, I want to drive that.”

He looked like a little boy.

The mountains reminded me of Google Maps in 3D. Of lava flows frozen mid-motion. Of Santiago talking to the wind in The Alchemist.

And yet, for someone who grew up there, like the person glaring from across the row at me as I shot pictures, those mountains might be boring. Normal. Background noise. Nothing special. Nothing of actual interest.

So is novelty always what makes something interesting?

How do we see what we’ve always known with fresh eyes?

A person we’ve loved forever.

A road we drive every day.

A lake we only notice once it appears in a movie’s closing credits (as I saw of Lakeshore Drive in the Gran Torino movie.)

Sometimes it takes pretending not to know in order to get lost.

Sometimes it takes becoming a tourist in your own life.

I lived in Hawaii for three years and never drove an ORV around where Jurassic Park was filmed on the Kualoa Ranch.

It wasn’t until family visited Hawaii that I saw the place through their eyes again. There’s something oddly shameful about doing “tourist things” as a local, as if you’re supposed to already know what’s interesting.

But maybe pretending not to know is the point.

Why do we remember what we remember?

The expected or the unexpected?

The loud or the subtle everyday delights?

Maybe being interesting isn’t about being loud or demanding attention, like a siren rushing past in an ambulance, but about quiet fascination. The kind that makes you lean in. Ask questions and stay curious.

So I’ll leave you with five questions to contemplate rather than answers:

1. What do you find interesting?

2. What makes your life interesting right now?

3. What used to interest you as a child?

4. What familiar thing could you turn upside down and newly notice it?

5. Where might you try seeing your own life like a tourist?

And if you want to tell me, I’d genuinely love to read in response to this email or in the comments :)

📖Reading

Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans

I couldn’t help myself and started reading a new book again. So much for monogamous book reading.

A few little nuggets that I’ve loved so far:

1. Ask yourself, “What the hell am I doing this?” a few times when you’re afraid you’re doing something just to please others’ expectations.

2. “Dysfunctional belief: It’s too late. Reframe: It’s never too late to design a life you love.” (xii)

3. “The value of a mentor’s life experience when they are giving counsel lies not in borrowing what facts or answers they know but in accessing the breadth of their experience and their objectivity, which helps them to help you to see your own reality in a new way.” (207)

If you’ve read this book or want to chat about life design, shoot me an email and I’d love to nerd out together. :)

🎬 Watching

How to Train Your Dragon

I watched the 2025 live-action version on the plane yesterday. I balled my eyes out. I have a hot-take that this might be the first animated movie turned live action movie that I’ve enjoyed. I love how open-minded, kind, courageous, and curious the lead character Hiccup is, despite being bullied even by those closest to him.

Also his empathy that then lead to his best friend being a fierce nightcolor mysterious dragon he named Toothless only

🎧Listening

Mammagamma by Alan Parsons Project

The band has got the instrumentals down. One of my dad’s favorite bands that he used to blast on his most prized possession of subwoofers in college. Still owns them on record somewhere. It’s inspiring to witness my dad listening to these songs and getting a sense of who he was 45 years ago, a young whipper-snapper making his way in the world as a young adult.

🔍Word to define

Interesting

From Etymology online:

1711, "that concerns, important" (archaic), present-participle adjective from interest (v.). The meaning "engaging the attention, so as to excite interest" is attested by 1751. Related: Interestingly. Euphemistic phrase interesting condition, etc., "pregnant" is from 1748.

🌟Quote to inspire

“Don’t ruminate, activate. I find it is difficult to think my way into a better mood. When I sit and stew, the problem usually grows larger in my mind. But if I activate — even if it’s unrelated to the problem at hand — my mood tends to improve. Action breaks the spell. Move your body, go outside, play an instrument, work in a different room, do something. Movement changes your state. And when your state changes, your perspective changes. New solutions appear. You notice options that were invisible when your mind was stuck running the same loop.”

— James Clear

📸Photos of the Week

Going in a hat store is almost always a good idea. Especially now that the checkout lady thinks I’m going on safari to wear my new Indiana Jones hat.

🙏Shoutouts

• to my mom and dad for inviting me on their winter getaway

• to watching How To Train your Dragon and Clueless movies on the plane and its window for somehow sparking the idea for this piece.

• to Brendan Stec for the book rec!

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I am grateful you chose to fill part of your day here.

If something in this letter resonated, press the ❤️ , leave a comment, reply to this email, or reach me at vermetJL@gmail.com. I love hearing from you.

Keep on learning 😁

Tot snel 🌺 🌺

Toodles :)

Jen

P.S. #1 - I coach writers. I guide them to build a writing rhythm and have fun hitting “publish.” Let’s chat.

P.S. #2 - I wrote a book. Letters to My Life is my favorite way to share my writing with you (and it keeps your screen-time stats down). Grab your copy here.

P.S. #3 - Here’s what you missed. Last week I wrote about What’s In? What’s Out in 2026?