Christmastime means

goodies in the workplace, I've discovered! So far we have brownies and Harry and David treats courtesy of our wonderful clients. Oh man, I'm starting to like this aspect of December. But all the presents serve as a reminder that I still need to buy gifts FOR EVERYONE. Gah I am behind. No worries, I have plans to attend a sample sale and scope out a bookstore tonight, so hopefully I will get some people crossed off my list.

I honestly did not realize that December is almost already over... kinda. But it's going by fast and that means the year is almost over and that means the DECADE is almost over and I totally didn't grasp that fact until like a week ago. Well the first decade of every century is bad, right? I'm crossing my fingers it only get better from here, meaning that all areas in life improve, for everyone! That's not an impossible wish, right? Let's start with the publishing industry getting back on its feet and embracing change (aka the digital age), and I'm sure others will follow (ie healthcare reform, employment rates, environmental protection etc). I am optimistic and slightly terrified. Optimistically terrified.

Is it too early for New Year's resolutions? I figure the earlier I commit to them and starting putting them into practice, the better off I'll be. So hear goes:
1. Be healthier. [Except not during the holidays, they don't count. I'll stop eating cookies in January, I swear.]
2. Write more.
3. Be less of a Grandma. [This is for Cynthia and may be difficult to accomplish during the months of January and February, when all I want to do is hibernate. But I promise to make an effort.]

That's good enough for now, right? I mean if the list gets too long it's just impractical, so I'll stick to these and really focus on them. Although now that I think about it, #3 might actually be a direct contradiction to #1... hmmmm.... we shall see.

Friday, right before lunch

seems like a good time to update. So how has my week been? In terms of health: terrible! Somehow (flu shot + plane ride = my theory) I came down with a head cold Monday night and have been fighting it all week. Luckily last night I discovered that vodka is a good remedy, and today I am feeling much better. Just kidding. But not really.

Explanation: last night we had cocktails after work and I had a little bit of vod mixed with lots of mixers. And I had a cup of tea. And then this morning I could actually get out of bed without feeling like death. So take that, head cold. Also Dayquil, you fail.

Backing up a day-- on Wednesday night there was the tree lighting ceremony at Rockefeller Center. Naturally, I got out of here as fast as possible and retreated to the warmth of a friend's apt to watch the show on TV. Which was much better because it meant not standing in the cold and rain pressed up against 100,000 tourists (allegedly... I don't know how 100,000 people could actually fit in the space around the rink here). And we ate turkey! Kwangs decided to treat us to Thanksgiving v2.0 and it was quite delicious. Unfortunately it did not prove to be the cure for the common cold. Andddd I might have infected J. Oops.

The other thing I wanted to rant about is books. Mainly this week's bestselling books. Now, I missed the lists from last week on account of leaving early for the holidays but I think that was a good thing, because otherwise I would have gone home in a funk about not only the stupid airlines (delayed of course >:( !!) but also about women writers today. That's right, I'm talking to you Stephenie Meyer and Sarah Palin! Somehow they are both allllll over the best seller lists and it just makes me sad. I want to be proud of women writers (esp after the whole PW best books of 2009 debacle) but I just... can't be happy for these two. Sarah Palin is... Sarah Palin and I don't even know where to begin. Stephenie Meyer has, in my opinion, created one of the worst female protagonists in modern literature and yet young girls eat her crap up! Obviously this is because of her stunningly perfect male protagonist but COME ON. How hard have women worked to get to a point where we are respected as smart, strong, independent etc and then along comes this Twilight mess. Basically: bad writing + misogynistic storyline = feminist fail. Whyyyy Stephenie Meyer and general female public whyyyy.

Ok rant over. Now I would like to praise the weather for being so not-Decemberish the past couple days. Please stay just the way you are. 50 degrees is a perfectly acceptable winter temperature, thanks.

Starstruck

Whew, I just did a pilates workout and am now cooling down. I added a yoga DVD to my amazon wishlist for Christmas. Trying to be healthier, one baby step at a time.

Cynthia and I went to see Jonathan Safran Foer read at BN tonight. He's got a new book out that's stirring up some controversy because WOW he says he doesn't eat meat (actually I think he's full vegan) anymore and NEITHER SHOULD YOU. Well I didn't think there was much new there, seeing as I already read Fast Food Nation, but I bet this book has some pretty prose. In any case, I hope he sticks to novels in the future.

Anyway, there I was saving a seat for Cynthia and getting antsy bc she was late and they were making people give up their seats for all the other people waiting. Of course 2 mins after the mean guy makes me let some other lady sit next to me Cynthia calls to say she had arrived. She had to stand in the back :( But somehow her eagle celebrity spotting eyes saw Natalie Portman arrive and sit in the front row, so that was exciting. By the time Mr Foer was finished I was over my bout of anger and that world and while not laughing heartily at his jokes, at least appreciating his well-spoken arguments on behalf of vegetables everywhere.

But here's where the starstruck part comes in. As I go to meet Cynthia in the back, Natalie Portman gets up to come meet a friend back there and walks right in front of us. Cynthia called out "Natalie we love you!" and asked for a picture, but she quickly declined. SAD. Then she tried to go back to the front but the security dude wouldn't let her. I thought it was hilarious because he was like, "Are you in publishing?" and she was like "No I just need to go tell me friends that I'm leaving" and I thought "Wow, the only time being in publishing would get you something and being a celebrity is not working so well." HAH. Well then the manager came up and of course let her through and afterwards was like "That was Natalie!" The security guy totally didn't care and still didn't know what that meant. Lawls.

Then we spent some time dithering as she talked to a friend and a couple people came up to talk to her but eventually we decided just to go. LE SIGH. This ALWAYS happens to me. I should just stop meeting famous people, because I ALWAYS get tongue-tied or can't find the courage to say anything and then I am SO MAD AT MYSELF later on. I should have gone up to her and just said, "Hey I really loved you on Top Chef and just so you know, I came for Jonathan because he's one of my favorite writers, but seeing you is an extra bonus. K bye!" But instead I was the awkward girl who stood in the corner whispering to her friend and laughing that the guard wanted to know if she was in publishing.

Morale of my story: celebrities are best observed from afar. For me, at least. Good thing I'm not in PR or anything.

Back by popular demand

Let's just skip all those other weeks in October and start with an update from this past week. It's November now! It's cold! There is a mouse still presumably hiding in our kitchen and refusing to eat the sweet sweet poison that we have set out for it. I read on the interwebs that mice don't like the smell of peppermint, so now our apartment smells very strongly of peppermint oil. It clears the sinuses! It stimulates the senses! But really I just hope it is to mice what garlic is to vampires, you know?

On Sunday I had a lunch rendezvous with Cathy (visiting from DC) and we went to a Korean place on St Mark's called Bon Chon for some fried chicken. Now, this was not your ordinary KFC FC (unless KFC stands for Korean frickin crazydelicious). One bite and I knew I would be back for more. Indeed I have been thinking about it all week. Maybe the C should stand for crackilicious instead. Oh also it was good to see Cathy, haha.

Wednesday one of Cynthia's former classmates had a book launch party at the Taschen store in Soho. We went, along with all of RISD, and it was really nice. The book was something like "design for Obama" and somehow co-authored by Spike Lee, so he was there! Unfortunately I took too long getting up the courage to ask him for a picture/authograph, so by the time we shuffled up to the table he was leaving :( For the Yankees game, apparently. Oh well, then Cynthia and I went to get noodles in Chinatown and all was well.

Last night went to Mooncake with the usual crew and got some Sapporo with our dinner. Then J and I went home to do pilates even though Gaodi warned us not to exercise with alcohol in our bellies. I think it was fine though because I have yet to feel sore. Tonight we are having a party at our office for one of our authors and lots of important publishing people are coming. Eep! I hope it goes well. In any case, can't complain about free drinks on a Friday evening. I should probably go study the guest list now and try to memorize people's titles.

Will try to post pics next time, promise!

happy mid-autumn festival/national day

As I was walking home from work today I saw this Chinese man who I often see walking his two dogs (one is a pomeranian and the other Pekinese). His dogs were all play-biting with each other and I started imaging a scenario in which I went over and said "ah, ni de xiao gou zhende ke'ai!" and then proceeded to have a little conversation in my head in Chinese as I made my way to my apartment.

I sometimes have to moments where I just really, really want to have a conversation with a Chinese person and go through the familiar exchange of, me: "anything-in-chinese", them: "oh you speak chinese! you speak so well," me: "nali, nali..." etc. Rather boring, really, but it has a familiarity to it that is soothing and used to be so much a part of my everyday life.

I think because it's fall (and I've finally got around to putting up my pictures from China in a collage on my wall) that I'm feeling nostalgic for the good PRofC. I realized that this time one year ago I would have been on a train back to Beijing from Nanjing, after having spent a crazy and fun filled long weekend in Shanghai (we had to take a train to Nanjing from Shanghai bc all the ticket back to Beijing from Shanghai were sold out because of (surprise!) the holiday day). And the sight that greeted us when we got back to Beijing was hundreds of thousands of people descending on Tiananmen Square to pay homage to... the ugly government buildings? Mao's mausoleum? The hugest public space in the world with a very sketchy history?

But enough with the memories. I know now that the main reason I am so nostalgic for China is not the country itself, but the people that shared the experience with me. Friends combined with an exciting new city and culture and language is the best possible mix. I think if I were to go back anytime soon I would be longing for a camaraderie that can't be recreated and best lives on in the moments captured by our cameras, or when we get together and retell stories. I feel so so lucky that all the elements were working in my favor last fall, and only hope that someday I can return to China to revisit acquaintances and see some places that I did not have time to discover. But in the meantime, We'll always have Beijing.

you are so lucky

another post! already! let's have a recap then:

Friday after work I met Will at the ShakeShack aka the most glorious hamburger stand in the land and had a lovely post-work week dinner. It was a little chilly out but at least this time I was smart enough to wear jeans so the mosquitos could not get to my legs... again. After that we went for some celebratory drinks and then on the way home, waited 30 mins for a single downtown 1/2/3 train to appear whilst four uptown trains went by on the other track.

Saturday there was an arts festival in the DUMBO area of Brooklyn, which I had never really been around before (except to go to the ice cream factory). So after brunch in Brooklyn Heights, we headed to the waterfront Fulton Ferry landing area to check out the exhibits and galleries. Witness the weirdness:

glorious friday

I'm kind of confused as to why the subway is always deserted on Fridays. I mean, do most people not have to go to work on Friday? The rest of the week I have to smoosh on the train and stand for pretty much the whole ride, but Friday is like a magical breath of fresh air. Or maybe people sleep in on Fridays? Can that be my schedule?

Last night there was a little publishing people get together after work (happy hour, woohoo) and I got to meet a lot of nice young professionals. Aw. Usually I'm pretty quiet and somewhat awkward in social situations where I know one, maybe two people. I tend to cling to them and not volunteer stories much. So I brought along a friend (who happens to be a fellow Ohioan) but she had to leave early. Not to worry though! I soon discovered what I should have already known: publishing people are totally chill. We talked about *gasp* what books we are reading and what our guilty pleasures were in high school (again, in terms of books.. duh). So despite being at a table of people I had pretty much never met before, I was quite at ease.

Ah, books. What do you call an object/idea/something you are intimately familiar with that always makes you comfortable? Like if I were a ship captain, books would be my helm. If I were a tech person, books would be my computer. If I were a graphic designer, books would be my inDesign... and so on. Just walking into a bookstore restores in me a sense of calm and also excitement. It it called a bedrock? Is that the word I'm looking for? My brain must be too crowded with thoughts of anticipation for the weekend to present this answer.