Kentucky Is Cool
Things are pretty good.
No Fried Chicken
I went to Kentucky and had a great time; ’twas a lynch-free visit. Notably, I really like Macalester alumni — who are always smart, self-deprecating, have hidden talents, and just know how to grind, let loose and talk about (and then make fun of) hegemony, interchangeably. We had such a blast. Kentucky was way cooler than I expected/remembered. You may remember that I dated a girl in high school from KY, and my predominant memory of it centered around large bales of hay that were in her backyard (as well as vampire animal killers). And, I saw some hay this time too. Also, there was plentiful sweet tea and lemonade, porches, friendly people, sticky weather, lots of green grass, Bluegrass (which I’m developing a taste for) and funky little shops. It was a pleasant respite. I stayed at one of the coolest hotels I’ve ever seen - the 21C - which is a museum. I also did well playing darts at a bar where a strange old man with a long white beard ogled the young ladies I played with; they had good chicken fingers though. My friend married a Malagasi man; they imported a Malagasi band, which rocked. It was an interesting multicultural experience. I realized that EVERY Mac wedding I have been to (approaching a dozen) has been between an inter-racial or international couple.
I hate Overstock (sort of)
Overstock gave me a hundred bucks for all of my troubles. At first, I refused to buy something with the credit. Then, I figured it would hurt them more to deplete their merchandise. So I tried to stretch the money as far as I could and purchased a watch, a table lamp, a book, and a CD. I vowed I would continue to hate them; but somehow I don’t deep inside. Dammit. I still won’t order from them on principle; or at least I won’t admit it.
Bantu PRJ
I bought a new couch from craigslist. I hired a mover from craigslist as well. Turns out he is from South Africa and spoke Zulu. I impressed him with my Xhosa. It was a magical exchange, and kind of strange for his Salvadorian helper who was like - "aren’t you Latino?" Identity is a strange concept. Did I share that David Blaine is a PR Jew?
Material Boy
From the whole overstock.com thing, I have been thinking about material things that I lack. It turns out, there aren’t many. A bunch of people were sitting on my couch 2 weeks ago watching and poking fun at a Jack LaLane informercial for his juicer. I thought it was so funny at the time. But, subliminally, I cannot get juicers off my mind. Now I want one really badly. A good one. And, a panini machine.
I am also wearing increasingly more khaki and polo shirts. It’s seriously like a uniform here. I don’t hate it. Until I go to NY. (I am going to NYC this weekend. And SF the following weekend.)
Patriarchal Visit
My mom came to visit last week. I call it a "patriarchal visit." All she did was cook and clean for me. All I did was work. We managed to try a bunch of restaurants for restaurant week: the Ritz Carlton, Agraria, Zengo’s, and Nora. I have a terrible canker sore. A really bad one, which I developed after Zengo. I am thinking about seeing an oral pathologist because it is so uncomfortable.
Here is my review for the worst restaurant:
"I hated almost everything about this place, aside from the clean,
modern ambiance and bathrooms. My lunch companion’s conversation was
also a highlight.
Food: My pork tenderloin was completely uncooked in the large
middle; it should have been called "pork sushi." I will probably get
trichinosis. (If I die, I hope this goes into evidence.) The ravioli
sounded promising on the menu, but was in reality a watery, tasteless
mess. The dessert, peach ice cream on some sort of ginger tart, was
reminiscent of a stale Little Debbie snack with Dairy Queen topping. My
friend’s chocolate cake tasted like bad, dry supermarket cake.
Fortunately, the portions were small.
Service: The waiters were the worst you could be without
being rude. They seemed like former drug addicts who hadn’t been
properly re-integrated into society. My co-lunchee described it aptly
as "dicombobulating". Two waiters fought — with us sitting literally
in the middle — about who would serve us. Our waiter told us the
kitchen was on "crack", and that he probably wouldn’t be working there
when we returned, but to ask for him, just in case. He also made a
closing statement where he stated, "you definitely loved the food."
They mistakenly brought another dessert, and our waiter relayed
tremendous confusion about it. The whole thing was just weird. In a bad
way. And, it was a rip off; even for restaurant week.
In sum, the place has a cool story in that they use all kinds
of organic local ingredients. After this experience, all I have to say
is "pass the Velveeta."
Job
The job is still going well. I have one co-worker who clearly doesn’t like me; a young lad who’s at a parallel level in the hierarchy. He wouldn’t acknowledge me for the longest time, and kept on trying to go behind my back. I refuse to have a nemesis. Initially, I just played it cool and, when it was getting worse, finally confronted him. After that, things seem to be going better. It’s especially hard to deal with people who don’t like you without a concrete reason — either because they don’t like your vibe or are intimidated by you. All in all, though, things are going really well at work and I enjoy it a lot. (Interestingly, I’ve been recruited a lot lately, and a lot of people have been forwarding me jobs — dream jobs even — in like Los Angeles and stuff! But, there is no way I would leave my job for a while; I need to stay put and grow.)
Lahore: the fastest way to my heart
My assistant director is the sweetest person ever. Her family lives in San Francisco and she went to Lahore Karahi, not once, but twice. I can’t wait for it. My body aches for Lahore. I also really miss chiropractic.
Meeting Up
My friend Mike and I galavanted around the city on Sunday. We went to the Natural History museum, saw the Hope diamond and insects, and went to an interesting networking dinner with meetup.com at this subpar Burmese restaurant. Meet-up was a weird but interesting experience, especially for me because I am not looking for a job — or to meet people. I mean this was Masters-thesis-level interesting.
It was so "meta" — people meeting with the sole purpose of "conversing." In the beginning, we had to get up and introduce ourselves. It was like a walking singles ad. "Hi. My name is Andrew. I’m an Alumni Director. I like meeting new people, musical theater, and kombucha." I didn’t say that, but you get the gist. There were different conversation groups at different tables, ranging from self-help and life-coaching to spirituality and miracles. There were window-tinting entrepreneurs, jobless professors, and unemployed law graduates. There was a lot of pressure to converse and most of the conversations revolved around analyzing the concept of meetup — at least for us. A few people walked up to me and crafted fake conversations for the
purposes of collecting my business card. I had 3 follow-up e-mails in
my Inbox this morning.
Afterwards, met up with a new friend Lindsey and her guy Hassan, who are livin large in Gallery Place. We had one of those long/easy/stimulating conversations that last for hours and you drink lots of beer, but don’t need to act drunk to be having fun.
What else? Macalester was rated to this hokey Kaplan rating as a "new Ivy", I really like that I went to Mac:
http://money.cnn.com/services/tickerheadlines/prn/200608140800PR_NEWS_USPR_____NYM116.htm.
Refugees
It’s funny that I feel more connected to Mac, because I probably have more good friends from UConn Law (remarkably, I have no law school friends left in CT). I keep on hearing about refugees from my law school leaving their cush law jobs for jobs like mine - in higher ed and business. What’s interesting is that the jobs they are leaving were the gold standard - what we dreamed for when we sat in the library, sizing up our competition for the few coveted positions, which guaranteed a privileged life. My boss at GW is one of us. Law school is so funny; it warrants a lot more space than this.
