The dog days are not over
After writing my first blog post yesterday, I stopped by BKLYN Clay for a quick trimming session before A’s birthday dinner. I picked up the five pieces I had sent for glaze firing the week before (they all survived), and now have a new favorite personal creation. There has been a very obvious pattern with all the pieces I end up cherishing the most… in that they’re all just extremely small pieces (shot glasses, vases, bowls, cups).
With only a month left of my pottery semester, I really need to bump up my studio attendance and think more about what I want to achieve in the next five weeks. Should I focus more on hand-building? Surface decoration? Try underglazing? Larger forms? I still owe my sister a ceramics gift that I promised for her wedding registry so… there’s that too 😜.
After pottery, I met up with the dawgs (the name of my core NYC friend group group chat) at 5ive Spice for the third year in a row. I ended up ordering a beer battered fish bún, and a side of their world class sweet potato fries. I’m honestly quite surprised how all nine of us (minus A) are still close enough to reunite for a third consecutive year. The group dynamic is strong… I ended up hanging out with the dawgs everyday this weekend, which hasn’t happened in a while.
After dinner, we braved the rain with our limited supply of umbrellas (I forgot mine… I’ve been forgetting to check the weather on the weekends - or actually, I think the forecasts have just been unreliable!) and ended up spending the rest of the night at L and A’s apartment. We laughed our heads off playing some light drinking games, measuring each other’s body parts (whose idea was this I have no recollection, but it was hilarious seeing the boys measure each other’s chest circumferences), and dancing the night away.
Today morning, I tried to sneak in a quick climbing session before my hangout with S, but I was very promptly reminded that time is a thing and sometimes you can’t do everything. I was 15 minutes late for my brunch, but S was thankfully amenable.
I met up with her at Crispy Heaven (top 5 bakeries in NYC) for brunch. It had been exactly one month since we first met on July 4th.
I ordered a mortadella and gouda sandwich on a baguette, and she ordered the scrambled eggs (you know, an unsurprisingly poor choice in retrospect). This was the first time we had hung out 1-1, but I had a feeling we could shortcut any of the typical pleasantries and small talk if I initiated and shared the more intimate topics and stories that I had talked about with A (our mutual friend).
This ended up being true. S felt comfortable enough to share her life story immediately prior to and now currently in New York. She went over the messy culmination of her last relationship, her overall dating life, and more.
I haven’t really nailed down what exactly makes a friend a high ceiling friend, but I think it’s some combination of humility, curiosity, and kindness? How flexible is someone willing to be with regards to their own perceptions, world views, and values. How loud is someone’s ego, and how much are they willing and or eager to learn about? From this second impression, I think the ceiling is pretty high with S.
We sadly ended up neglecting our food. I packed as much into a leftovers box as I could, and then I walked north with her to go facilitate her Reebok return. I spent the rest of the day accompanying some of the dawgs in Soho. M finally bought a pair of pants after I referred him to Naked and Famous. We were eventually joined by A and S, and ended the day with a filling meal at Chef Tan.
Some random YT videos I enjoyed:
How to process an emotion Honestly, an amazing 12 minute primer on the core lessons you learn in therapy
do you want to be loved or do you want to be yourself? Very existential video about being yourself