I was lying in bed the other night around eleven and I realized, “Damn, I can totally go to a strip club right now and no one will stop me.” And that’s exactly what I did.
Quoth one of my clients (and future colleague) en route to a cheese steak taste test. (Geno’s wins.)
It has been building over the past few months, perhaps several. I sense myself becoming increasingly radicalized as I premise-check and assumption-suss. And I find myself growing ever more wary of capitalism’s productivity norms — “a system that asks me to give up my body/labor and otherizes me if i cannot” writes a queer hapa disability rights activist — and the reductive self-Therblig-izing that market norms perpetuate.
And I would totally write more on this, words equalling lux and whatnot, but I have to hit the ladies room. ZOINKS!
If so, please click here to take an anonymous survey. Pass-alongs welcome. THANKS!
One of my key goals this month is to cook nutritious meals. In my hunt for a “Cooking Fundamentals” class (recommendations welcome … I don’t think a few semesters of Home Economics with Melba Holmgren counts … as good as she was …), I came across a talk by the author of a kick-arse book that dramatically altered the way I look at what I’m noshing on.
People who eat the most animal-based foods get the most chronic disease. People who eat the most whole plant-based foods are the healthiest and tended to avoid chronic disease.
That’s Dr. T. Colin Campbell, nutrition guru behind the most comprehensive study of health and nutrition ever conducted. Surprised you haven’t heard about it? Well, that’s because agribusiness doesn’t want you to eat more healthfully. What’s in your best interest is not in the best interest of Big Farm.
His talk is February 17th, 6:45p - 9:30p. You can click here to learn more about his live talk “Change Your Diet: Save Your Life”, or click here to investigate his book The China Study.
[Here's a link to a video that I can't figure out how to embed: vid of Dr. Yum]
I’ve spent the past several weeks working on 2010 marketing goals for one of my clients. However, it didn’t occur to me to leverage the same goal definition and prioritization methodology on my personal goals until a couple of weeks ago. So while I don’t have the time to expose my algorithm for how I came up with these, here’s my goals for next year — with quasi-confidential information obscured.
Yep, I’m moving in with my boyfriend, code named “Pablo” to protect the innocent. I have never completely shared a space with a romantic partner in my entire life, and I suspect that this is going to be a unique and oftentimes stressful experiment (though not unwelcome) (okay, relationships are not experiments, but still).
And living with someone means I am going to have to rewire lots of practically hard-coded programs, such as
The mental calculus is different when optimizing for “us” as opposed to “me”; since I only recently learned how to optimize for me, it’s going to be interesting to see how I react to the whole cohabitation thing (and all that it entails). Wish me luck — and let me know if you know of any reasonably priced one bedroom apartments within walking distance from the Empire State Building / PATH train / Amtrak / Stumptown coffee.
Of course, while the three big picture goals are going to, on the balance, consume my attentions for the year, by changing the timeframe and breaking things down on a quarterly basis, my goals look nominally different:
It is very important to me to not forget the fundamentals of meditation, yoga, and healthy flexitarian eating (and concomitant soul-soothing joy of making oneself a hearty meal), even in the hubbub of all my goings-on-about-universe. Speaking of which, one of my unwritten goals for next year is to
Be Better
which necessarily means I must
Do Less
which means I must
If I cannot accommodate this, then I will forever need to keep “tasks” such as “Go on dates with Pablo” on my to-do list. And instead of naturally and automatically having down time to enjoy the company of myself and those I love, I will need to “program” this time in. Sure, it’s great to demarcate boundary lines of “me” time — and even once I no longer overextend-n-overachieve I am sure I will keep this up — but the deeper, more fundamental challenge that I am journeying towards surmounting is no longer seeing myself and valuing myself for the things that I do, rather than, the human that I am.
So, do less. Be better. And until then, don’t forget to do something fun and interesting and new each week with the people that I love.
Changing the optimization timeframe once again, here’s my January goals:
I’ve got a secret project there at the bottom that, knock on wood, will be non-secret by quarter’s end. And you can help out with my other goals, too:
Feel free to spread the word and have interested peeps give me a buzz at (212) 532-2405.
So that’s the score on 2010. I’m making my goals transparent because
Happy New Year, all y’all. And yo, yo —
2009, I’mma let you finish, but 2010 is gonna be the best year of all time!
Fifth place actually went to a post in which I skewered a former roommate for ruining my curtains, but since he reached out, I have since password-protected the post. So the new fifth place goes to:
#5. Free Universal Healthcare. Doctor’s Orders.
my commie pinko friend Cameron on Fox Biz as he drops some knowledge regarding why we need universal healthcare at no cash cost.
#4. Fresh Air Fund Taps Bloggers To Spread The Word
let’s pretend that the campaign’s goals were to drive donations (which it isn’t, but I’m being generous): the donation page has no clear “call to action”. Give us a form, people! Create a stand-alone splash page! Too! Many! Places! To! Click!
#3. Collaborative GRE Analytical Writing Scoring
Perhaps, then, the way to approach matters of happiness prerequisites is: “Only once one stops looking for it can one feel true happiness.”
#2. Marketing Is Still Marketing
So, a year ago, The People wanted Hot Sex On A Platter, and that’s what American Apparel served up. But now, The Moody People consider that untoward. A recent cartoon in The New Yorker captured this mood swing nicely: “I’m trying not to flaunt my employment, so I’m not carrying a briefcase these days.” What do The People want today? They want to feel like the companies with whom they transact aren’t a bunch of greedy douchebaggy corporate welfare recipients.
#1. (Situational) condescension is a moral obligation
the language I speak is often at odds with the language spoken by the dominant status quo — and by definition, the middle chunk of the Bell curve is the dominant status quo. And the dominant language is one that makes others feel good about themselves, gently persuades them to agree that 1+1=2, and blows sunshine up their grade-inflated, “Hooray For Everything”, if-it-weren’t-for-Spanx-it-would-occupy-four-zip-codes backsides.
Oh dear. What goodies shall 2010 bring? Will people even read blogs any more? Or all we all too busy crafting clever replies to our friends’ status updates?
Other stuff by yours truly:
Let us wish 2009 a gentle good bye.
Scribbled on the back of an earlier draft of my work-in-progress “The Grey Dress” (which is based on my first day in Moscow):
From my new home, head south and you hit the East River in a few short blocks. The promenade is surprisingly empty and commerce-free for such a stunning view on a beautiful night (79 says a red sign in Brooklyn). And most of the people enjoying the stroll are Asian - FOBby. I imagine the ones fishing are Fukianese. I feel at home as I walk amongst them.
Across the river, I see Empire Ferry State Park, where I did my ritual cleansing.
It seems so small now.
* * * * *
What I don’t talk about, and maybe I should, is that my non-whiteness grants me access to some places.
I feel safe in projects, invisible where my white friends might otherwise stand out.
* * * * *
What a furious constellation of light and sound, this town. Already I love Manhattan!
Those kids in Waking Life totally had it wrong. You become a new person, like, as frequently as you allow yourself to.
I have worked very hard this year and despite the fact that I don’t grow as rapidly as I used to, would still like some new toys for my non-denominational Christmas celebration. I have conducted extensive research and a thorough needs assessment in order to whittle my list down to three items:
By the way, you may want to get your mitts onto Redken for Men’s mint rush hair and body wash to detoxify your skin after flying around in the air all night long …
Love,
Anittah’s hair
I enjoyed a talk by Chris Hedges, Pulitzer prize-winning journalist and author of Empire of Illusion, yesterday evening. During the Q&A, he explained Socrates’ concerns about the book (Socrates was worried about the written word’s negative impact on society versus the oral tradition):
Striving for a moral life is ambiguous. It cannot be codified. It becomes orthodoxy when these discussions are written down.
Yes. Yes of the Stephen Carter “bumper sticker democracy is bad” variety.
His talk was so thought-provoking that I may have to noodle on a marketing campaign for socialism.
