Stuff he says: Dream job edition.
- Him: I think deep down, I want to be a famous convincer of people, things.
- Me: Like Jesus? A Messiah?
- Him: No, I don't want people to be spiritual and shit.
And here it is, your moment of Zen.
Unsolicited advice to Mike Chang of Glee even though he’s just a TV character and things need to be stupid and dramatic in TV-land.
You are a football-playing, pop-song warbling A+sian with abs of steel and a great sense of rhythm from small town Ohio. This rare combination will guarantee that you will get into any freaking college you apply to, especially if you don’t need financial aid, as your Chinese parents began saving for your university education when you were still in utero. It’s not dance school OR college, you can do both! It’s called a liberal arts education! Yale is an Ivy League university with a fantastic fine arts program. Make that your first choice; your parents will be overjoyed as well.
WIN-WIN SITUATION.
![Best picture, or bestest picture?
[via NYT]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lvwgpjAaFK1qzzglwo1_400.jpg)
Best picture, or bestest picture?
[via NYT]
I’m an inconsistent coffee drinker. For several months in a year, I’ll be really good about getting fresh single origin, locally roasted coffee beans from a hipster-staffed cafe until I get lazy or break my French press. I then revert to instant coffee (I don’t own a coffee maker) and begin taking milk with my coffee again, or switch to green tea if I’m feeling a bit sanctimonious.
Freeze-dried coffee granules offer instant gratification, but not unlike molecular gastronomy, they convey an impression, the what-must-have-been of the original. The Japanese instant drip coffee in the pictures are, however, a superior but pricey alternative. A single Drip On packet take maybe one minute to prepare instead of the three seconds it takes to dissolve instant coffee granules, but it actually tastes like real, not-half-bad coffee.
Stuff he says: iPhone case edition.
- Me (turning laptop around to him): I think I found the Perfect Case for my new iPhone!
- Him: WHY IS IT SO EXPENSIVE?
- Me: Uh, it has ultrasuede backing and it's made of um, some special material . . .
- Him: . . .
- Me: Oh! Oh! It's made in America!!
- Him: So you're overpaying because somebody made a bad business decision?
Gap baby year.
Best friend J., of whom I can never say enough good things, is an oncology and palliative care physician. While she often wishes she had more time in her life for her other passions (books and art), she loves her job, and I dare say she is very good at it.
Her husband was recently awarded a year-long fellowship in Toronto, Canada. Always putting family first, J. will likely follow him to Canada even if it disrupts her career momentum, as she’ll have to give up a consultant position she’s lined up for 2013. Now there’s the question of what she will do in Toronto for one year. Taking a whole year off may jeopardize her work prospects when she returns to Australia, so she’s discussed her options with a few of her colleagues and bosses. According to them, J. has two choices:
1. Apply for a fellowship
2. Have a baby
A BABY, I tell you. She lives in a Western democracy in the twenty-first century, and she’s still being told that she could simply pass time in a foreign country by having a baby. Bored? Have a womb? Just fill it up. Motherhood is a time suck and you won’t even realize a whole year in a strange, exciting city has passed you by. When you return home, you may as well give up your career and be a mother forever since there will be nothing new on your resume anyway.
The end of an era. My little Nokia has seen me through two jobs, two serious relationships, and grad school over seven years and four countries. That will do, pig. That will do.
Many years ago, when I was still a child, my grandmother explained to me in simple words the difference between Jew and Christian.
“You see,” she said, “Christians believe that the Messiah was here once and he will certainly return one day. The Jews maintain that the Messiah is yet to come. Over this,” said my grandmother, “over this, there has been so much anger, persecution, bloodshed, hatred …
“Why?” she said. “Why can’t everyone simply wait and see? If the Messiah comes, saying, ‘Hello, it’s nice to see you again,’ the Jews will have to concede. If, on the other hand, the Messiah comes, saying, ‘How do you do, it is very nice meeting you,’ the entire Christian world will have to apologize to the Jews.
“Between now and then,” said my wise grandmother, “just live and let live.” She was definitely immune to fanaticism. She knew the secret of living with open-ended situations, with unresolved conflicts, with the otherness of other people.
” Amos Oz (who speaks to my soul), How To Cure a Fanatic
My best friend texted me one late Californian night to let me know that she was attending an event headlined by Ann Patchett at the Melbourne Writers Festival.
We reconnected three years ago in Melbourne after being out of touch for about a decade. I ducked into a bookstore before our first meeting both to quell my nerves and to pick up a present for her. I was quite certain that she still loved to read, even though she had gone to medical school and was preparing for a hefty exam that would qualify her as an oncology physician. I was quite certain that we still liked the same books, and that she had never read Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. That I gave her, as well as Dorothy Parker’s Complete Stories and The Ballad of the Sad Cafe by Carson McCullers. I was right. She loved them all, and the ten year gap in our friendship disappeared.
I was at a party in Menlo Park, sitting alone in the dark with my dog when she messaged me. I replied: Jealous! Hear Franzen’s at MWF too. No literary rock stars when I volunteered last year. Get pic w/ AP if there’s a signing!
She told me to check my e-mail. I made a beeline for my laptop the second I got home, so excited I was to see my favourite person in the world next to an author we both admired deeply.
I got this picture instead.
I love, miss, love her so much.
