By Scottie Andrew

It’s almost summer, and I’m daydreaming about getting out of town. Something about this time of year makes me antsy (perhaps it’s the suffocating heat), and I’ve got to get away, at least for a bit. I’ve got no vacations on the books, but that hasn’t stopped me from imagining myself on a little boat in the Pacific, surrounded by otters and orcas, or on a train through the American West, marveling at ancient landforms and dense forests. If you’re heading anywhere dreamy this summer, readers, do tell! And if you spot any otters or orcas, please send photos ASAP. 

Here are some good things that happened this week.

CNN

Sweeping streets with song

Macario Martinez is a singer-songwriter by night, Mexico City trash collector by early morning. The two very different gigs only feed each other, though — he wouldn’t be inspired to pursue one without the other, he told CNN. 

“Working in the city sanitation system, I think, is the most beautiful job in terms of connecting with others,” he said. “I think it’s the only job where you can actually get a chance to look up to the sky.” 

Martinez started filming himself in the back of the collection truck, set to his original songs. In a matter of months, millions had viewed his TikToks and started listening to his music (songs of love and heartbreak, for the most part). He even recorded a song to promote the second season of “The Last of Us,” whose characters, like Martinez, always find time to pluck their guitars and sing. 

Though he’s now recording music in studios and touring on the festival circuit, Martinez hasn’t quit his trash collection gig. There’s too much beauty to be found in unexpected places, he said — and he just can't bring himself to give up that sky.

Robert F. Bukaty/AP

Fins up!

Sharks have found a champion in Louis Pugh. 

The endurance swimmer completed 60 miles in the water surrounding Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, to challenge the public perception of sharks. 

Pugh selected the island because of “Jaws,” which is about to celebrate its 50th birthday. The film painted sharks as “cold-blooded killers,” Pugh said, but they’re really misunderstood. Yes, they’re carnivorous, and yes, beachgoers should evacuate the water if they spot a shark nearby. But they’re just trying to keep swimming: Around the world, around 274,000 sharks are killed every day — that’s 100 million sharks dead every year.

And so Pugh swam, taking in the island’s sights over 12 days. The water was frigid and especially wavy during Pugh’s swim, sometimes stranding him on land after only a half-mile of swimming.

But after 24 cumulative hours of fighting against strong winds and tides on behalf of sharks, Pugh successfully circled the island. Throughout his swim, he never saw a shark.

From Lady Gaga/YouTube

Ring ring! Music video nights are calling

Now, here’s a story from yours truly, based on one of my favorite pastimes: Music video nights.

There are few finer ways to end a night with friends than with a queue of music videos that inspire singalongs and sneaky bonding. The activity isn’t as shallow as it sounds, though: Music video nights are a vehicle for deepening our relationships with our friends, said Clay Routledge, a psychologist and nostalgia expert. Many a music video night revolves around “classic” music videos we grew up on (for me, that’s Lady Gaga’s “Telephone," pictured above), engendering a nostalgic feeling. Nostalgia increases self-disclosure, meaning we’re more likely to share memories attached to a song, video, time or place when we’re already fondly reflecting on simpler times. Who knew all it took to feel closer to your friends was turning on “Single Ladies”? 

If you’re interested in some of my own semi-embarrassing memories tied to music videos, you can read more here. Now if only we could convince a music video maven like Beyoncé to release some new clips to add to the lineup of our next marathon.

Tambako the Jaguar/Moment RF/Getty Images

A very fine feline

A bevy of outdoor cats live on my street, but their orange tabby ringleader drives my dog extra crazy. A new study suggests my pup might be onto something: Orange cats are technically “freaks of nature,” writes CNN’s Amanda Schupak, thanks to a very unique genetic mutation that’s responsible for their ginger hue, researchers said.

Female cats carrying the genetic code for an orange offspring are never completely orange themselves — their fur skews calico or tortoiseshell. But the genetic variation that likely determines their orange shade isn’t linked to pigmentation or linked to pigment-producing cells at all. Turns out, the genetic mutation in orange cats activates a specific gene that blocks the production of black pigment, causing cells to produce orange pigment instead. This type of variant hasn’t been found in other animals, so orange cats really are (adorable) oddities.

Notably, researchers have not been able to prove that this genetic mutation causes orange cats to behave any differently than their less brilliantly colored kin. “I think orange cats have really convinced their owners that they’re different, but they’ve yet to convince us,” Stanford University geneticist Christopher Kaelin said.