do it

first p, i think you should totally do the basically naked run. i mean, it cant last that long can it? plus, its hilarious.  down here we dont officially do anything like that- we just see old women running on the beach in their bathing suits looking oddly much better than... well... anyone. startling, really. i myself just signed up for a 10k on saturday, before realizing that it starts at 7AM and is about an hours drive from my house. so.... not quite sure when im supposed to arrive or anything. hopefully i can pick up my packet ahead of time. running has also, recently, been very unattractive to me. all i want to do is sit in the house and watch movies and stuff my face with popcorn. is it that im depressed? exhausted? or just done with running? yes well, apparently im still forcing it, so there is that.

work was pretty quiet today, which is always nice. i got to do some very pressing things, like finally respond to the nyc jury duty people who are shocked and appalled that i could not sit on a jury in september. yes, its taken me this long to respond to them, mostly because they asked for a multitude of documentation that proves i am no longer living in nyc. not only did they want a copy of my lease, but also two utility bills, w-2s, and a copy of my drivers license. well well well. anyway i finally sent it out today, amongst other actual work-work things. 

this week is not so bad, actually, its going by at a good steady pace. then again, i guess tomorrow is only wednesday. my big plan for this weekend, other than the super crack early race on saturday, is scouting out a middle eastern or greek market. see, next week is this "holiday" celebration we have at work. except its not holiday based. its actually food based. the entire week is a potluck: we are each to bring in two items, on assigned days of the week, and we apparently eat breakfast and lunch all together- everyone on the floor (there are 6 of us in my office, plus the boss; similar arrangement in another office down the hall; and the last one only has 3... but still- there are also former- co-worker interlopers, who also show up bearing food products).  in theory, this sounds like a great idea-- bonding, delicious food, procrastination.  but in reality, it means that i have volunteered to make spinach pie for approximately 20 people, and believe it or not, cheese here is like 20 times normal price. im not kidding. not to be obsessive, but feta at the local publix market is about $7 for about a half-pound.  i know, for years i was spoiled by sahadis and the east village cheese shop, where i could easily walk to either and stock up on a pound of sheep or cow's milk feta for 2.99/lb. i just miss those places! we dont have cheese markets here, we dont have middle eastern markets; hell, we dont even have indian or japanese markets. its one of those things i always took for granted in new york- while i used them feverishly, i never really thought, wow how lucky. i really just thought, wow, how cool. now i am desperate. moreover, theres no real online internet "path" to follow in reaching the sparse selection of speciality markets down here-- no reviews, no comments- like the foodie cult down here doesnt really go for that out-of-the-way ethnic experience.  so, i am armed with a list of 3 places i was able to find, one of which admittedly does have fabulous reviews (a huge warehouse full of greek imported food items?!?! heavenly) but its going to be about an 1.30 drive from the race saturday morning. predictably, the two places closer are also, unknown entities. nonetheless,  i am ready , willing and able. and i better be, to make that much spinach pie. 

the other downside to "food week"? being forced to eat relative strangers' home cooking and not offending them. again, something i take for granted is how we have these friends who are just amazing cooks. i fear that is not the case everywhere. i will try to keep an open mind though, even though the idea of "meat" lasagne grosses me out like a vegetarian.  (i think its the unidentified meat factor). 

xo

Ten Cent Wings and Running in Speedos

Just got back from John Brewer's in Waltham, for ten cent wings and blueberry beer. It was a pretty early night, actually, and just a handful of folks from my running club. Thankfully in this freezing cold weather, I got a ride to/fro. Anyway, debating whether or not to do this Santa Speedo Run on Saturday, where basically you run in your Xmas-inspired skivvies in the middle of downtown Boston. Considering today had a real-feel temperature of 4 degrees, I might have to think about this...

Anyway, nothing much else to report--by Fri, all will be over and done!

-P

more champagne

i wish it were snowing here! on second thought, most people out here have a hard enough time driving in the rain, so, you know, maybe ill just save my wishes for snow until im next back in new york. plus, the beach is still pretty great. and im not sure what snow would do to that component of my weekend activities.

i think the last update i did was on thursday afternoon? we went out to dinner thursday night with a collector & three art dealers, to a fancy steakhouse down on ocean drive- called prime 112. it was one of those places where the meat cuts are so huge that benjamin & i ended up splitting one. it had this amazing crust on it- pretty delicious, even though i usually only eat red meat these days when i am desperate for a burger or my moms beef stew (oh, how i miss it). we all shared some unbelievable mac & cheese- with truffles!!! (and lactaid pills of course), delectable brussel sprouts, amazing deviled eggs, salad, bread, sweet potatoes... the list goes on. we also managed to consume copious amounts of well-chosen champagne & red wines chosen by the collector, one of those people who know all about wine "houses" etc... i didnt even know you could refer to a wine maker as a "house" but apparently you can. after dinner, we went home to hit the hay: even though we didnt go out, it was still midnight by the time we got back here. such is life. 

friday after work i scooped ben up at the NADA art fair near work, and we headed to our favorite miami institution, montys. if you check out that link you may start to understand what it looks like- random outdoor seating, tikish, with a pool in the middle, overlooking boats in the bay. pretty much perfection, if you ask me. so we headed there for some raw bar happy hour, downing half-priced stone crab legs, shrimp peel-and-eats, and some oysters for me. it was a seafood deliciousness night, along with a few pitchers of beer. really, life doesnt get any better. after that, we headed to a party for artforum, hosted by yves st laurent, but by that time i was super full and unable to really converse with anyone. it was at the bass art museum, 

and we headed out to the garden area where everyone else was. the waiters were passing out desert h'or'devors, i mean, delicious but at that point i was so stuffed with mercury laden seafood that i couldnt imagine it. 

more champagne, and then i took a walk inside to check some things out; nothing too crazy, although there were some fun videos: two played side-by-side, and were of kids in mexico (i believe?) playing air guitar infront of a wall on the street, which was draped with a white sheet. the kids all ranged in how they looked- but were definitely of the high school aged variety, some were goth, others punk, some more hipster looking. they got to play air guitar with these wooden, brightly painted cut-outs of guitars, and you could hear the music thru headphones. at the end of each "song", the kids would inevitably, break the guitars, smash them on the ground, the wood splintering. behind the videos, on the opposite wall, was a huge stack of the air guitars. i only wish they had encouraged similar play with those objects d'art.  otherwise, nothing much to write home about. what i could write home about is how sleepy i was, so i left benjamin at the party and headed home to sleep. sadly i missed out on some more parties, and a late night swim in a pool, but i digress. (really, i could have done the same if only my pool on the roof would finally open!!!)

yesterday was rather non-art related until later in the evening: we spent some time on the beach, laying in the sun until a group of very loud spanish talkers came and stood about one foot away from our heads and continued to have a very long and loud conversation right above us for approximately 20 minutes, before we decided to leave; then we ran some errands, had some lunch/breakfast at a nearby arepa cafe, and headed to target! (look patty, we both got target in the same weekend. brilliant! except... i go all the time. oh well).  our mission there was to buy some presents from a little boy named damien. no, not damien damien, but a little 4 year old foster child that i "adopted" for the holiday season. after some internal discussions and external ones with ben & my mom (via phone), we settled on a huge pack of legos and a soccer ball. when i asked my mom whether legos would be ok for a 4 yr old, or if little damien might eat them, my mom's reply was, "well, i mean, they should be ok, but you just dont know what kind of four year old he is." i think this was her way of saying, kids progress in different stages. do not judge if he likes to eat legos: it is out of your hands. we also briefly considered buying little damien a doctor's kit from fisher price, or chutes & ladders or candy land or memory, but decided that we were being excessive because buying toys is SOOO much fun.

you know whats not fun though??? dealing with small yelling children and their obnoxious parents in target around holiday season. one mother was actually being more annoying than her kids, as if shrieking and yelling to get them excited about toys was actually a good idea? we then had the miracle of miracles of waiting in line behind a mom & her 2 yr old, who did not

 understand that her mom was actually buying her this mickey mouse play contraption that was four-times her size, but rather, thought that the cashier was taking it away from her, especially when it went into an oversized shopping bag. the mom let the kid scream and scream and scream and cry,-- it was like she barely noticed it. i tried to intervene, and explain to the child that the toy was actually HERS, it was just in a bag. but what can you do. kids are sometimes... stupid. benjamin got a real kick out of how annoyed i was that the child was being so irrational. i mean, i get it, i just wish the mom had been a little more proactive. (at the same time, i guess thats the kind of apathy that develops when you are constantly surrounded by screaming crying children. that are yours. maybe you just dont care anymore). 

phew. once that was over, a had a lovely sushi-boat-dinner extravaganza, at my local fish spot, where the boats go around in a circle at a bar, floating in water that is pushed in this circular current. it was delicious, as always! we then hit up a magazine/fashion party at the mondrian hotel, (watch that intro video for a hilarious insight into miami) where we had yet more champagne -- the party was conveniently sponsored by verve cliquot.  benjamin couldnt really it take it there- it was a little too fashiony/cheese miami, so we left after about an hour. i must tell you though, i loved the design of the place: it was very enlarged, playful- like outside, by the pool, there were several huge open-top canopys over large spaces, so that it looked as if you had spotted a room in a dollhouse; there were almost make-shift rooms in that sense, although the surrounding canopy & flowing white curtains were so oversized, that the furniture - lounge chairs, or living room set-ish spaces- looked dwarfed in comparison. 

after that, we headed to the raleigh hotel once again, where a dealer (?) was sponsoring a -- get this -- paint ball competition! there were different groups of contenders, some artists, others collectors and dealers, and they would suit up, put on these white outfits, helmets, chest pads, and get into this pre-constructed ring with netting on all sides (so that all the bystanders didnt get hit). it was like we were invited to an oversized, absolutely ridiculous bat mitzah. kind of amazing. this party too was sponsored by my new favorite beverage - this time, moet. its really crazy how much corporate sponsorship goes into this week! although we only meant to stay at the raleigh for a while, we ended up leaving around 1.30, grabbing a midnight-snack, and then headed home to sleep it all off.

i know, this feels like the most neverending post but i just have to keep going.

today today todayyyyyy, we got a christmas tree!

there she is, in all her glory

yes, they do sell such things down here, conveniently at my local publix supermarket, where i got to actually select a 6 foot tall tree and place it inside my apartment without moving furniture or placing it awkwardly in the kitchen. go figure. miami beach living does have its benefits. i decorated it with hannukah themed colors, representing my dad's non-religious-cultural nature and my moms love of all religions. ok, well, i mean, i just really like blue, white & silver too. although i did search out the manorah factor today, i could only find the scary plastic ones with light bulbs at my local walgreens. i will search harder. in the meantime, the living room smells delicious and looks beautiful & peaceful. i tell you, theres just something about having a tree visit you for a month that is so pleasant. i wish  i could have one all year. well, technically i guess i could, if i can settle for a mini palm tree. (note to self....). its feeling a little more joyous in here since we put the tree up, but its still a little odd beginning to celebrate or reminese in holiday-spirits when its warm and sunny all the time. while its nice, its also horribly ground-hog-dayish, if you know what i mean.

well, enough babbling on about champagne, trees, and all other sorts of random things. tomorrow begins my life once again as a boring office worker, writing memos, researching online, and taking long runs after work, with nothing else to do...  when you see it snow again, enjoy it doubly for me my friends. 

xoxo

It's snowing! It's snowing!

This morning--as I went for a 9:30am run along the river--it was snowing. This was a new experience for me, and I have to say, there's something romantic about running through a flurry of snowflakes. I would write a little haiku in honor of that right now, but I have long since traded in my poetic fedora for a prose-wielding construction hat (as is clearly evidenced by that crappy metaphor), so...no Byronic verses in this blog post.

First off, can I say: Annie, your week in Miami sounded AMAZING. Look at you, hob-nobbing with the art scene, getting into fancy hotel bars. I was just watching an episode of 30 Rock a couple of hours ago (when I decided to take a "break" from my paper-writing), and Alex Baldwin's character had the most amazing line: "Why does anyone go to Miami? Ass, and the burgeoning art scene."

Classic.

My friend Diana was in town this weekend, and we spent yesterday at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, which is now my favorite museum in Boston. Granted, I've now only been to two, but details, details.

Perhaps the best-known piece in the collection is a painting called "El Jaleo" by John Singer Sargent, who is actually one of my father's favorite painters. It's actually a saucy Flamenco dancer doing her thing, and I wonder whether she's getting it on with one of the guitarristas in the background.

Anyway, that was about the only artsy thing accomplished this weekend. Diana took me to Target, where I spent $75 worth of I-don't-know-what. Toilet paper. Face lotion. Clorox. And then she took me to the Super 88 to buy kimchi (I bought 3 lb jar of the stuff--I am now lost without it). I balked at the rice prices, though, so knowing me, I will probably lug a 10lb bag of it on the boltbus with me.

I have 2 10-15p academic papers due by the end of this week, and--fingers crossed--I have good feelings about them. One paper is on Jane Eyre and its 2 conflicting narrative voices, and some bit about Feminism and the Bildungsroman (aka the novel of development). THe other is on Mansfield Park, exploring why Fanny Price is a pain in the ass. Or, to put it more politely, the anti-heroine, if you will. I've got my friend Tim reading over a draft of the former (he, apparently, loves the Bildungsroman--blasted British M.A.'s!), and I am 8 of 10 pages done with the Mansfield Park paper, plus revisions and edits. So, if all goes well, I should be able to take part in 10 cent buffalo wings with my running group tomorrow evening, and a couple of holiday parties slated for the following weekend. I'm almost too afraid to go back to NY early because all of my mechanized rituals--library, gym, library, home for dinner, library--will all go out of wack the second I touch down from the bus. What if I sit around on the couch all day watching Food Network, getting fat and not writing? It's like, all of the hard work I've been doing in Boston will get cancelled out by a two-week sojourn in NYC. But yet, I miss all of you guys...

In other news: my short story for (my tyrant professor) Leslie's class went over not so hotly. Well, actually, he was a lot nicer about couching his criticisms than he usually is. Here is a snippet of his typed, written feedback to my story:

"Patty, this is a difficult piece to judge because it is clearly--or at any rate clear to me--not a short story, but a piece of something you seemed not to have the time to complete; nor does it really have a steady focus... I think I can sum it up under the rubric of IMPRECISION: NOT JUST IMPRECISION OF LANGUAGE, THOUGH THAT IS RIFE, BUT IMPRECISION OF THOUGHT AND PURPOSE AS WELL." (Note--these are Leslie's ALL-CAPS)

He wraps up with: "The trouble is you don't string either [scenes or dialogue] onto the thread of a plot. They are jewels that never become a necklace, and at the very end, to extend this awkward metaphor, they all tumble with the non-ending over the floor."

He did say that he was "proud" of me for "rallying back" after my "initial disappointment" in the class, i.e., after I was a crybaby.

Well, that will be the last of the ego-blowing moments for 2008. Leslie's on sabbatical next semester, so who knows how things will end up.

-P

holler miami art party style

hi kiddies. Well, patty, while youve been toiling away eating cabbage and veggie burgers in what i assume is some school cafeteria (i do not miss those recent portions of my law school experience), ive been staying up too late as well but for wholly opposite reasons. Tuesday began the week of art basel miami beach, which is ongoing through the weekend. Basically the entire art world (new york, l.a., international) come here– from what i can gather, the galleries that are well-established have space at the huge miami beach convention center- and form the art basel miami proper art fair. Then there are smaller art fairs all around town– one called dot, or spot, or something; several that are media specific; there are also apparently huge shipping containers on the beach that are open to the public and act as additional floating gallery spaces- pretty cool huh? Hopefully i will get to take some pictures of the madness so you can all see.

So the city has been temporarily transformed, for the better if you ask me (minus all the increased crazy traffic). The hotel bars are packed, the roads are packed, the people are beautiful and non-miamian, and there are tons of things to do. Hey, its almost like i live in a real city again!!

Tuesday night we went to the nada art fair opening- a friend was outside dj’ing, there were tons of booths inside, and deliciousness vodka sodas and grolsht beer as far as the eye could see. I was thankfully granted two extra passes for my co-worker nicole & her husband, so they got to come along. After staying for a few hours after work, we packed up my car with three other people, and headed out to another art opening- this one called "the station," curated by an artist as well as a woman who curated the last whitney bienniel.

It was less selling-, more show-like, and it took place in a really interesting space: all around miami there are these totally unused apartment or office buildings, that were built in the real estate heyday and have yet to be used. So apparently the curators of this show were able to get to use this space for the art, and this opening party, naturally, sponsored by grey goose, so again there were plentiful servings of vodka soda and mini champagne bottles all around. I tell you, i cant say it enough- these arty kids know how to party. The first floor of the exhibit was in the main lobby- still under construction- with some exposed beams and sandy floor in parts, where no actual cement had yet been laid. Downstairs there were larger installation sculptures and the like; the second floor had more "normal" mediums- paintings, drawings, smaller scultpures; and the third floor was actually an amazing installation: a meth lab (!!!). it was so unbelievable, so creepy, so intensely... real seeming.

One area was glassed off and was set up to look like the actual lab, with tons of bottles and tubing, cooking, filtering the meth; a table nearby held copious amounts of sudafed. Up some rickety stairs, you went into the meth-lab-apartment, where there were disshelved, creepy arrays of random collections in glass jars on many bookshelves; crawl through another opening and you were in a room with dirty gross carpet, dirty walls, stacks of old newspapers; through another room, and you entered what was probably the ‘bedroom’- again just a bare, sad, depressed looking space, old carpet, wallpaper, a single lamp and bulb blaring on the floor, and a sad looking calendar, open to the month of December. This being miami of course, at the end of that room was the normal built-in terrace space, where undeniably there were four or five european middle aged men, dressed very well, smoking cigarettes and drinking, as if they couldnt really be bothered by the nearby installation or the irony of them standing outside doing that in light of what was only a few feet away. Very interesting class-dichotomy.

After taking a nice tour, we were standing outside for a while, and thats when mary-kate olsen showed up. I know i know, i shouldnt brag, and actually it was benjamin who pointed her out to me- but then she came to stand *right* next to us so i couldnt even stare. It was almost a form of bizarre torture. I did get to see her slightly out of the corner of my eye- the littlest petite little thing, with facial features as delicate as a doll, truly. She was wearing a floppy hat with feathers on it, and looked so fragile. (Her boyfriend is the aforementioned artist who was one of the curators for the show). Perhaps expectedly, she traveled with an israeli bodyguard, who was very protective of her, but in a nonchalant way, and cleared the way to ensure she & the boyf could walk to the bar for a drink, unencumbered.

Shortly thereafter, we headed out to yet another party- this one for the T magazine, of the ny times; it was in the penthouse of one of these very fancy famous hotels, the raleigh, which is quite lovely outback. Again, expectedly- it was totally packed and impossible to get into. We waited for a while outside but then decided to just head out to the back area, where the pool and bar and dinner is served, and i tolerated (just barely) some more drinking and socializing before i put my foot down and made us leave, around 1am. The cranky factor was at an all time high- we didnt hadnt had dinner yet! At the time, it seemed like a good idea to hit up the ihop by my house, although the next morning, it was a regrettable decision. Still, by 1am on a Tuesday morning, there arent much choices out there (little deli action in these parts, my friends! Enjoy them while you can). Thus, six hours of sleep and back at work- living a double life.

Yesterday there was more excitement, of course. We thought we were going to some kind of opening party for a new show at the rubbell family collection, called ‘30 americans’ – all african-american contemporary artists. But once we got there, we realized it was the dinner for all the artists, etc- but ended up getting in and staying anyway. The rose champagne flowed freely once again, and we got to meet such an interesting array of characters- from crazy, freewheeling artists, in your face, to funny, normal gallery dealers, to the editor in chief of a serious japanese art magazine (who had just spent all day with david lynch...? weirdness), to a writer from the times, and a whole other assortment of art variety people. Oh- and naomi campbell. And no, she did not throw a cell phone at anyone’s head, although, i guess you never know what happens across the room from you at these things anyway. It was a ton of fun, but exhausting still, so once we piddled out of there around midnight, i was ready for bed. I dropped benjamin off at yet another party (i couldnt handle it!) And went to bed. And now- gearing up for yet another night. Hopefully it will be less hectic, more calming- just meeting some people for dinner down on south beach at what i assume is a ridiculously froufrou steak restaurant on the ocean. Wowza. Well, lets just cross our fingers that this too will be all complimentarily taken care of.

It has truly been a wonderful past few days! Although i must admit- i am looking forward to some relaxing time this weekend, beach time if it warms up, just not so much hecticness. I am always amazed that people can gear up for these kinds of things: the party does not stop, literally. It goes all night. Good thing i am very adept at taking myself home when i can tell i will be a wreck the next day. Tomorrow is Friday Friday, and this week has just flown by. Off to pack up from work, and start another evening of my double life... well, you know, after a nice run outside.

xoxoxo

One More Day in the Life in Boston; What the Hell

*I AM IN FINALS MODE*

6:50am Hit snooze

6:58am Climb out of bed frantically, pull on super warm running clothes, curse the day, curse the fact that I only got 5.5 hours of sleep.

7:03-8:10am Run to Cambridge, meet my former boss' boss' boss at Columbia for a run along the Charles. Freezing and sweating at the same time--ripe conditions of pneumonia.

8:15-9:00am Shower, do last night's dishes, pack my breakfast + lunch, pack my laptop and bag.

9:05am-12:00pm Eat peanut butter, sunflower seeds, and honey on rye while belaboring introductory PARAGRAPH of my Jane Eyre paper. Note to self: superimpose musical jargon over my paper re duplicitous, disparate narrative voices (the priggish Victorian conduct book voice and the independent, modern, Feminist prototype voice).

12:00-12:30pm Nuke veggie burger, cabbage and rice; eat while rereading the aforementioned paragraph.

12:30-2:00pm Rewrite all of my writing on the paper from yesterday. Eat banana.

2:00-2:20pm Decaf coffee break (I know, I know, decaf does not coffee make, except for me--makes me jittery). Email break.

2:20-3:20pm More rewrites/additions to paper. 10 pages down; 5-10 more to go.

3:20-3:30pm Wrestling with printouts at the computer lab ($#@!$)

3:30pm-4:15pm Treat myself to a goof-off at home....but what is this? NO GOSSIP GIRL on cwtv.com?! NOooooooooooo!
Eat lunch #2 (frozen dumplings, rice, and peas) while settling on watching NBC's Chuck. Still hungry after second lunch-- wtf?!

4:15-8:15pm Revise existing draft of paper. Debate word choices for hours: do I say "the two voices engage in a counterpoint moment," or "contrapuntal harmony," or "polyphonic counterpoint," or "suspended counterpoint," "contrapuntal dialogue," "dialogic counterpoint?"

More debating: contemporaneous Vs. contemporary? inevitable Vs. invariable? Converge or conflate? Bildungsroman or Kuntslerroman?

8:15-10:00pm Head to Audubon Circle with my friend Paul. Sadly my Korean bartender buddy's not there, so no girly drinks. Two pints of Ipswich ale.

10:00-10:20pm at Johnny's Fresh Market; looking for a snack/dinner. Spend the whole time gazing at nutrition labels, then default to the unhealthiest option--pasta, chicken, broccoli (in a cream sauce. eep).

10:25-10:55pm Eat said dinner/snack while watching episode 1, season 1 of Arrested Development. So good. Sigh.

10:55-11:07pm Waste time on Facebook.

11:07--midnight? Finish revising first draft of paper; will tackle the remaining 5 more pages to write tomorrow...

SCENE.

Jane Eyre, Air, Eerie, Faery/Fairy

Much has been made of the eponymous little heroine of Charlotte Bronte's classic work. You could read her as:
-Jane Eyre= faery/fairy changling
-Jane Eyre the "poor, obscure, plain and little" orphan
-Plain Jane
-Modern woman or repressed Victorian conduct book-esque charicature?

Anyway, I think I've finally stumbled on an appropriate paper topic for my 19th Century British novel class-- the narrative voice in Jane Eyre. The Victorian/repressed Christian voice v the modern/independent/feminist prototype. I'm excited! I only read through 200p of theory about the Bildungsroman and construction of the orphan, but now I think I'm on the right track, so I'm going to plow through.

That's where my head is at between now and 5:30, when I have a running date with my friend Alexis to do 7 miles on the indoor track! (That means, 49 loops around and around...)

Not the most interesting of posts, I understand, but not much else to report on this front...

cheers, P