Old Friends / Halloweekend
I am writing while laying down on my sofa. Feeling kinda lazy/tired so I’ll make this a quick one.
It was Halloweek. It was a good week overall.
I’ve been a bit lost in thought/contemplative in past weeks but due to my busy schedule this week I don’t think I thought too much. That might be a good thing.
There is such a thing as overplanning your life. You can’t live your life by thinking about it. You have to just live it. Maybe the best life lived is one where you don’t stop and think and just live every moment as deeply as possible (maybe!!!!).
Anyways, it was a packed week.
Old Friends
Kristy and Chai both visited this week. Tim also just moved to NY. Friends I hadn’t seen in years but had known for years.
Time goes by and I marvel at how long I’ve known some of these people. I can even remember the first times I met some of them and what I thought of them in that moment.
It was a week of reminiscing and doing somewhat typical NY things when visitors come
Went to a fancy dinner at Craft. I’d first read about this in Dave Chang’s memoir and wanted to try it for a while. The menu was relatively straightforward American food (no twists). The service was great. For the first time in my dining experience one of the employees (host?) came by and asked us an ice breaker—”if you woke up and discovered you were a huge celebrity what would you do.” I was taken aback and everyone expected me to answer first (as the defacto leader of the group 😏) so I panicked and said “I would go out to Union Square and stand there so my fans can greet me.”—a pretty egotistic answer in line with my usual schtick. The guy left after everyone answered. I expected there to be some callback (maybe a special dish or something idk) during the dinner to what we had discussed but it turned out to have been just a simple ice breaker after all.
The food highlights: short rib, duck, potato au gratin and so on. Honestly was not impressed for how much we paid.
The food was too straightforward and the execution was not incredible. Seemed like the place you might take out a client you want to impress to some degree but not a place you’d go to reunite with friends you hadn’t seen in years
Went to Chelsea Market and to Artechouse afterwards. Artechouse was a digital art experience where they rotate out the exhibit. Ours was Life of a Neuron. They had a tiny section upstairs with panels describing the life of a neuron and a huge projector area downstairs with a light show depicting the life of a neuron. Very trippy and might have been fun if we were high but we were sober and the experience was definitely not worth the $30 we spent. Glad I tried it so I don’t have to try it again.
Went to PJ Clarke’s with Kristy, Will and Kelvin. This was a group reunion from the Winter Will, Kelvin and I visited Kristy in Taiwan. That was in the Winter after Junior year so almost 6 years at this point 😳. I remember Taiwan as a beautiful mosquito filled country with vibrant sights and experiences. Going to a bustling night market to eat oyster omelettes. Drinking tea on a fog filled mountain as the rain pitter-pattered all around us. An idyllic bike ride along a winding river and watching the Sun go down afterwards while sitting on a cafe. I likely did not appreciate as much then what turned out to be a beautiful trip.
PJ Clarke’s was an institution. I read somewhere months (years?) ago that it had amazing burgers. I got the sliders which were pretty decent but I wish I’d gotten a full burger to see what it was like. Truffle fries were great and indeed truffley.
The atmosphere was pretty nice too. Intimate, American-y. Felt like you were eating in a restaurant that could have existed a century ago (maybe it did. Edit: it was built in 1884. Nat King Cole called it the “Cadillac of burgers.” I’m pretty sure I read about this in Vanishing New York—a great book on gentrification in New York and how much the city has changed over the years).
Speaking of great burgers, I had one recently at The Malt House during a team dinner. Unexpectedly great. Juicy, drowning in cheese—exactly what I wanted at that moment.
Thoughts on seeing old friends/reminiscing—I spend days so recklessly, nonchalantly. Like they cost nothing and are in eternal supply. But the place I’m in and the people around me will eventually fade. It’s hard to internalize that and treat every day like it matters BUT I should at least try to enjoy and appreciate everything around me.
An alternative thought is this—friends stick around longer than you may expect. Who knew when I ran into snot faced, immature Kristy Freshman year on the floors of Putnam Hall we’d end up seeing each other years later in New York? Even with the friends I currently hang out a lot with—in 2016 when Will, Kelvin and I were in Taiwan, none of us imagined we’d still be hanging out weekly in NYC years after our trip.
Halloweekend
I was slightly worried I wouldn’t have anything to do Halloweekend but it turned out to be pretty eventful.
Friday I went out with Brian and his boys. His crew dressed up as characters from Peaky Blinders. I’d gotten the memo but wasn’t sure how serious they were so I dressed up as Snoopy instead. We started off at Decibel Sake Bar, went bar hopping across LES and ended up getting a table at Mission. My first time at Mission I was impressed by how uncomfortably packed it was. Densest crowd of people I’d seen in months. Also a lot of dudes compared to at Den Social. I had the most alcohol that night than I had in months. Crawled my way to William’s place afterwards and crashed there for the night
Clubbing is fun every once in a while. I hadn’t gone in a few months so it felt fun going out again.
Saturday I recovered from Friday. Dinner at PJ Clarke’s and got a drink with Chai and some of his friends in Murray Hill. I slept most of the day.
Sunday I hosted a small event at my place. I intentionally kept it lowkey and intimate and invited people that I thought would keep it chill/comfortable (Will, Kelvin, Aastha, Millie, Raj + his girlfriend). People came late and early on I wished I’d invited more people. My space could easily hold 15-20 people. But overall had a fun time. We ate, drank and played a bunch of party games (salad bowl, fibbage, etc.)
In Other News
I continue to practice Jazz Piano. The joy of knowing I’m making small steady strides.
Also going to improv which continues to be fun but oddly competitive.
Went to a writing meetup that a newly made friend (Jasmine) hosted. First time writing in a group setting and it was kinda cool.
It was a good week overall. I still feel like there’s room for improvement.
I want to make progress in producing music and performing again.
Also want to make sure I maintain my fitness and eat healthy
I want to optimize my social life so I spend quality time with new and old friends and go to events I find meaningful.