016: I'm Going to Kiki's!!!!

reservation for 12

Remember The Vegetarian? / well, you'll remember / they're not going to remember / they've never read it / unless they have / don't forget to mention Less / why would you mention Less though / Less sucked / it feels weird typing on the actual computer keyboard instead of the separate keyboard you usually have / apple really need to reimburse people for this butterfly shit or at least give them free repair options / actually, sometimes the flow just goes really well and there are no typos / but other times it's the complete opposite and all you see on the screen are red squiggly lines underneath all the words like microsoft word when you type in spanish and haven't changed the language / I love seeing everyone but I think we need to hug each other more; remember we used to hug each other every morning when we walked into school; that was awesome; and then Madame Bomanne (Bouman?) didn't like us hugging in the classroom / I wonder why we would do that? It was probably just our celebration after a joke or something and we'd be like yeaaah! And give each other big hugs and she'd be like no no, boys, why so much hugging, there is no need to be touching each other so much, leave it / high-fives only please / not even that / no reason for so much contact / I wonder how she's doing with all this covid stuff: maybe she was just ahead of the curve on social distancing / thank you for staying away! / Vegetarian is a Korean novel about a woman who decides to one day stop eating / bobby just walked in / he's working from home this morning / now y'all know that I'm writing this in the morning again / well, oh well; what's the difference as long as it goes on out a 2uesday / bobby just said "now I have to log in because I'm 30 minutes late to a meeting".      Oh fuck he left his computer at the office / I think it'll work / it feels weird typing on the butterfly keyboard again especially since I've been traveling and haven't cut my nails / bobby if you're reading this it's too late,,, I never got the nail clippers / maybe I should eat this bagel before I continue so it doesn't get cold: ok then: BAGEL BREAK --- that was a delicious bagel, thank you bobby & cynthia / can't go to new york without getting a bagel / bobby knew to get me a plain one, it was so delicious - they saw Joe Biden, well, his motorcade. We're just a few blocks from the UN and there's a ton of global ambassadors here / they told me they stay at all the nicest hotels, but I saw them posted at the InterContinental ***drizzy voice*** I do not stay at the intercontinental / bobby just started his meeting and has his work voice on, oh he's good at this shit - very professional - you're doing great sweetie / when the lady in The Vegetarian decides she's not going to eat anymore she doesn't tell anyone she's doing it she just shows up to a family meal and is like na I don't want any of that meet    just the vegetables / at first people are like ok weird but maybe it's just a phase / then it gets really weird because she goes to dinner with her husband and her husband's boss and the husband is flipping out because she won't eat meat and it's embarrassing him / no one can understand why she doesn't eat meat and they think not only is it weird but it's also insulting to the husband who has a wife who won't eat meat and won't accept his requests for her to eat meat / maybe I hated the book while reading it because this whole wife has to do things to make the husband look good idea really pisses me off too / but it didn't end there / family life continues to fall apart because the dad is now embarrassed that our hero won't eat meat and starts telling the husband get your wife in order and she's like still no meat and he's like wtf freaking out like this is the worst thing she could every possibly do for her / we missed a lot of great NFL games yesterday but it was worth it / brian just got his new coach and sent a picture / that's a nice couch, I would totally pass out on it / we went to Brooklyn to the SIXNE pop up before the dinner and we had no plans to run into anybody / I think I hadn't seen MATATAN in like 2 years so that was awesome / he might go back to AFRICS at some point, that's cool / we got to the store and Virginia was there with her husband and their daughter Pao and it was awesome because she couldn't make the dinner because of mom stuff / and we were having beers and brian bought corona's because that's family / then we made some mimosas with champagne and jarritos / first time but it was really nice / employee of the month alfonso nevares showed up shortly after we discussed how incredible his employee of the month picture looked / and that was also unexpected / so basically 85% of the people going to dinner already showed up beforehand and we were all drinking together / totally unexpected but it was a lovely surprise / the cowboys won on a last minute field goal and I didn't even watch but let's go cowboys rayne dakota prescott is a grown man / (who didn't throw a single touchdown pass but we're ok with that get the W) / everyone around the vegetarian is freaking out and feeling like their life is falling apart somehow because of her decision not to eat meat / which is double wild if you think about people being like oh you made this personal decision for yourself that really shouldn't affect me but it changes how society perceives you and I'm connected to you by family which in turn means it changes how society perceives me and I don't like the way society is perceiving me because of something you're doing that I disagree with not because it's actually wrong but because it's just different from what I've always thought is right and this new change is scary and we don't know how to deal with something / people blame "PC culture" for the new words we use and the way we have to act differently but it's really just unlearning a lot of terrible behavior and ideas we had been told were ok because the people in positions of power were okay with that / not just people / the groups in those positions benefitted from this separation of classes and ideas and subjugation of certain populations but now those minorities - whether in race or sexual orientation or even socioeconomic status - are getting more power and bringing to light all these inequalities and differences and making things more equal and that scares the people with so much power and privilege because the way things were depended on this equality but to make things equal some people might have to lose for others to gain that's the only way to even things out and you might think it's not fair because she's a self made billionaire but there's really no such thing she had a ton of money growing up and had connections and privileges that others didn't so that self made is really about being lucky to which family you were born and that you were able to have a summer program in France and an internship you got through family connections few other people in the world could get / I'm still using Bumble but I just laugh when y'all share the "self made" thing and I didn't post anything about it because I was like whatever let people be happy even though they're wrong / who am I to say it's wrong though / in the end I still wrote about it here / I wonder why I feel so much more comfortable writing even more here than posting on a story or tweet because somehow I feel like this is a private place but it's more public because idk who everyone is just from an email / we drove from Brooklyn to Kiki's / there's really few sights in the world that compare driving in to Manhattan/ that shit is beautiful / we were packed in the car and Alfonso was in the trunk and were like yo check out the beautiful moon! / and he was like I can't see the moon you put me in the fucking trunk / I was like why'd you decide go in the trunk then! ;P / anyway, move out of that way my guy IM GOIN TO KIKI'S HEAARE! / the reservation was for 12 but only 10 people showed up / that kinda worked out because two more on those benches would've been a squeeze but I missed that you didn't go / you two were missed / it would've been fun / please go next time / at one point we were going around in a circle catching people up our lives over the last 5 years and woah I guess a lot of us really were out of touch / can't believe your mom lived in Hawaii / I love the RD (not the DR, si lo dije en español primer) but it's always PR OVER EVERYTHING / I hope that doesn't feel like a challenge / we need more Caribbean connection / it makes me so sad that growing up they created this idea in us that we highlight our differences and make fun of each other instead of celebrating what makes us unique and working together to lift each other / more caribbean alliances in the future in between all of our countries and peoples and different languages / why did we bring up some things that felt kind of sensitive? / also there were many things that I thought were one way and apparently they weren't? - I knew I fucked up but not that badly; it's a lot / some of it wasn't true though pero que vamos a hacer I can't control other I can only control myself and how I respond and I know where I was wrong and what I have to work on / I'm still working on it and the work will never stop / the important part is still to be open and empathetic / I think I handled it well / maybe we didn't need a resolution | or maybe the idea of looking for a resolution makes it works - I think ***** said it's just stirring up the shit that's already shit and it's going to be shit regardless just in a different pile / maybe we just need to leave the shit / not that this is an excuse to ignore shitty shit you've done / as the vegetarian is continuing to tear her family apart (their words, not mine) she starts getting real close with her sister's husband / he's a videographer and is burning through the couple's money as he works on his passion project and his wife is tirelessly trying to keep them afloat / eventually the vegetarian ends up fucking the husband while he's doing a naked shoot of her / the entire family falls apart. / people get divorced / the final chapter is a year (I think) in the future and the sister goes to visit the vegetarian who is now living in a mental health facility / that's basically all they could do with her because they still couldn’t deal with "crazy" decision to stop eating meat / they can't believe she would just fuck over the entire family like that / the sister sees  the vegetarian / they talk for a bit / just some chitchat / you know, the weather, the yankees, the knicks suck (maybe not this year though) / and she walks away and the story ends.

I was so pissed. What the fuck was that? Nothing happened / they just got upset at this lady for a dumb reason and the whole world goes to shit? I need a resolution. I thought to myself / then I remember the presentation I gave in grad school about marketing across different cultures and how it all comes down to our cultural view of resolutions, answers, and why things happen or where they come from / it's a very western way of thinking that every thing that happens must have a defined root cause and every incident must have a wrap up resolution that perfectly solves the situation / this includes movies and stories and goes all the way to legal disputes / if it happened it must be someone's fault / versus in the east it's like time is a circle / things will happen and they will happen again / maybe they just happen and we never figure out the reason / that's okay / that's life / doesn't mean you never need a reason. But maybe sometimes you don't. /// and even though I still hate the story I appreciate the perspective it gave me on being able to understand and accept there are other ways of seeing things not just what I'm used to and it's okay for them to go that  way as well / time and things can be a circle that come back to the original idea even if along the way you don't feel like much happened or you went in random tangents that made no sense but were still relevant / I still want to talk about Less / like / just make sure you don't read it / nothing happens / homie gets dumped by his older boyfriend / boyfriend marries much younger sexier man / Less goes on world trip feeling sorry for himself trying to figure everything out / he returns and is accepting but sad / the trip wasn't even exciting / that's how I remember the story / why do so many books sell so much and get on the NYTimes list / I kinda contributed as well by buying it and then talking more / but at least that's how I remember The Vegetarian.