I recently met a Persian poet who shared some of his poetry with me. One thing he said, that I found particularly profound was the following —
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You can have a castle, but if no guests/friends come, it can feel like a prison
You can have a cottage, but if guests/friends come, it can feel like a castle
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I thought this was a really interesting idea and couldn’t agree with it more. What do you guys think?
I was in Tahoe a few weeks ago when I had a really interesting experience. I was sitting at the blackjack table with my Dad and my uncles, when I was dealt a split hand. The book on this hand says that I should split. My uncles thought this was a bad idea – it was too risky. I had a heavy bet on the table. 100. They kept urging me not to split. I kept telling them that I had to play the book, that’s the way I always played. They nagged me, they annoyed me, they made me angry – they kept interfering with my hand. I told them all to go F themselves and split either way. I was dealt the same card again. I split again. I was dealt three shitty hands – I didn’t care if I won or lost though. Before the trip, I decided on my blackjack strategy. I was going to stick to it. In the end, the dealer busted. I took my winnings and went to the beach.
As for my Dad and my uncles, I still love them. We had a small talk afterword– I told them that they needed to leave me to play my own hand and that I think they play to much with emotion, not enough by the book. I hope that they won’t and doubt that they will interfere with my hand in the future.
On a side note, my betting strategy worked. I left Tahoe up, which really doesn’t matter because no matter what you do, in the long run, if you keep playing blackjack you’re going to lose, unless, that is you’re counting cards. I’m not counting. I guess the most redeeming thing was later that night, one of the dealers, told me that I was the best blackjack player in the casino. Obviously doesn’t mean much, because again, blackjack is a sucker’s game, but it was a nice feeling.
It can be an interesting time. For me, it’s been a period of deep introspection. You begin to question a lot of your own decisions. How you lived your life, whether you made the right choices, and what you want next. One of these decisions I made was to go to law school. Over the years, I’ve had many doubts about my decision to attend. Today, I was reviewing a contract for some of the stuff I’m currently working on. I needed some help, so I called an old friend who I interned for last summer. You could say he was my legal mentor. As we went through the contract, I began to see some value in the legal training I received. It was a nice feeling. This happened in another instance today as well. I guess as you grow older, you begin to realize you can’t really plan for what’s next, that you’re going to make mistakes, that so are the other people in your life, that sometimes what you feel was the wrong decision was the right one, and at the end of the day, if you’re trying your best, it doesn’t really matter. After all, you’re only human.
A few month ago I had my law school graduation. As I was walking, I noticed that my grandma and uncle were both snapping photos of me — my uncle with his professional camera and my grandma with her dinky Motorola phone. I thought this was really funny, and I made fun of my grandma a little about it. You can call me a jerk, but sometimes, I like to make fun of old people.
Today, it was my cousins bris. I had a front row seat. Right behind me were a professional cameraman and a videographer. I’m happy to say, despite the fact that they were there, I was busy snapping away — taking pictures with my blackberry. It’s funny how things can come full circle.
At the end of the cutting, I turned back to the crowd of about 100 persian people. I shouted “BEAUTIFUL PENIS.” Some laughed, others looked at me in dismay — I thought that was funny.
Dear friends — I posted a guessing game a few days back basically asking what my favorite dish was at Il Pastaio (since one of the things I want to blog about, at least for now, is my favorite dishes at restaurants). Many of you have attempted to guess in private, but refuse to post on my blog. This is disheartening. Please guess on the wall in order for it to be an official guess. I will not answer you truthfully unless you follow the rules.
Clue: It’s a pasta or dessert…
I know what I’m going to blog about, but I’m going to hold off on it for a while. I’m really excited about the topic and think it’s very relevant to the modern times. Details to follow, probably in a few weeks once I start teaching myself about it…Until then, just some more nonsense posts…
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Amigos — my friends say I’m not aiming high enough with just dishes and grandma stories, and I tend to agree. Somebody just pick a topic and I’ll start reading and writing about it. Suggestions?
In line with the support of chain restaurants, I read an interesting article in The Atlantic a few years ago titled “In Defense of Chain Restaurants” (think that was the name) The article quoted one of the very first reviews of California Pizza Kitchen which said — “every neighborhood should have a restaurant like this” That was interesting and funny — now every neighborhood pretty much does and because it’s so popular and became a “chain”, people have developed an aversion to it (at least many that I know), even though I still think it’s good.
p.s. The founders of CPK went to UCLA law…
Tonight I was having dinner at Il Pastaio with the fambam and I got inspiration for at least one of the things I want my blog to be about. While a lot of people talk about “great restaurants”, I find this view somewhat silly and narrow minded. For instance, while a restaurant might get a 27 on Zagat, you may go there, have a dish you don’t like and decide that the restaurant is no good (I’ve had this experience with my parents — I’m always trying to get them to try new places and I always end up hearing about how bad the place I took them was). On the other hand, now that we are given so much information via the Internet, we may decide to forgo a place simply because it’s not rated well. This is unfortunate because often times while the restaurant may not have all amazing dishes, they will have one or two dishes that are just really damn good.
I’ve actually thought about this topic at length, having discussed the issue with a good friend of mine over the years. He refuses to eat at chain restaurants with me — insisting that they are no good. I, on the other hand, am a fan of chain restaurants for several reasons. First, when you’re in Cleveland (or some other city with probably fewer great options than LA), it’s nice to know that a chain restaurant will offer a meal that you know will be consistent and reliable. There is something reassuring about that. Second, I think that while chain restaurants get shat on a lot, they often have some very very good dishes. For instance, I feel very strongly that the Thai Chicken Pizza or the BBQ Chicken Pizza at California Pizza Kitchen are excellent — I’ve always enjoyed them, and I think I always will. I also feel this way about the Chinese Chicken Salad at Chin Chin. Thus, having said all this, I think that there needs to be a greater emphasis on dishes, as opposed to restaurants.
As far as the dish that inspired my thoughts tonight (just drove home and thought about this for the blog), I will wait to discuss it in a later post, because I didn’t think to snap a photo at the time. If anyone can guess it first, they get a meal on me.
Clue: It’s either a pasta OR dessert
Also, if you are actually reading my blog, don’t be shy about guessing. I’d just really appreciate the readership. Maybe I’ll just throw something to the first person who guesses, just cause it will make me happy.
On a happy note — had a new baby cousin today!
