The weather these past two days has been ridiculously gorgeous. The cherry trees are all abloom and the grass here has been newly mowed and the fountains are gushing. One can hardly believe it's Jersey. Despite all this rare, seasonal perfection, I locked myself in my apartment yesterday immediately after work to start and finish an art review. Of course it pained me to do this, but such is the fate of a person with a full-time job and one week to write a review (I saw the show last Saturday, during the last hour in which the gallery was open, with art handlers propping bubble-wrapped paintings in front of the pieces, no less. Hey, still looking! Gallery still open! But I didn't say anything, because I had a friend who used to be a sort of art handler/office manager type and he was positively shat upon, so I do know better than to make their lives any harder.) Normally when I'm stressed out and there's a deadline looming, I eat crap. Last night I wolfed down, like, half a box of Triscuits and cut the side of my mouth in the process. They're sharp! But luckily, before I left work, J and I had split an avocado, a pear, and a whole carton of strawberries, so I did have some vitamins in me. I felt so clean--verging on saintly, in fact. Tomorrow, I'm back on the train to review another show, which I forgot to see last Saturday when I saw the other one. What was I thinking?
On Wednesday night, I went to a fancy sit-down Asian American alumni dinner at my alma mater. There were a lot of young doctors in pin-striped black suits there. And a lot of big engagement rings. Apparently, everyone got the memo but me. I saw an old friend of mine who I haven't seen in a decade who just finished her residency. She said, "From now on, I'm doing an 80-hour week, no more." It kind of made me feel like a total slacker. "You look great!" I said. (She did.) "
You look great!" she said. (I would've looked even better if I were wearing a pin-striped black suit and had a big rock on my finger.) And then we hugged good-bye. I like that: short and sweet. No false promises of keeping in touch or getting together. She didn't even introduce me to her husband. I think that's keeping it real.