Fourth Wall

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Waiting For a Piano to Fall...

Today was one of those days when nothing went right.* Mom and I got up early to go to Dim Sum, but Ton Kiang was dramatically understaffed, and we waited a long time for very little food-- and didn't get many of our favorites. We went to Macy's, to buy linens on sale, and ended up next to a black woman in line whose check had been rejected-- and who accused the clerk of racisim with some considerable volume. For dinner we went to a Thai restaurant that is an old family favorite, but it has been dramatically redesigned, the menu redone, and prices raised.

A: I don't think the chef has changed. I just think they hired a style associate.
Mom: A style associate from the W hotel? "Make it dark!"
A: The style associate FROM HELL!

I would have loved to be in on that meeting. "First, paint the walls black. Then spray-paint the chairs. Get rid of the colorful tablecloths of tibetan fabric put up a gratuitous nude sketch to make it "arty". Now raise your prices by half and re-name all the items on the menu."

I was entertained by the way in which the re-naming went wrong. Vegetarian spring rolls became "Crunchy Tibetan Monk Rolls", and Chicken Satay was something like "Chic-a-pick Stix".

IN OTHER NEWS:
D. Robes, on running into some unhabited Dominican sisters at the Met, in front of Fra Angelico's painting of Mary bestowing the habit on St. Dominic: "I didn't have the heart to tell them that Chris's idea of being a Dominican may differ somewhat from theirs."
Alice: Yeah, point. 'you see this? Mary giving him something? Oooh, look! It's called a habit!'

Many you have seen Dan sputter. I then got to see him sputter online.
Alice: You have nothing to say to that, do you?
Dan: I have to give credit where credit is due when somebody beats me to a point so pungent with irony.

* There were some good things of the day. We ran into Aunt Joan, Jennie, and Poppie at Ton Kiang, and my grade school friend Max "I put the 'k' in 'kwality work'" Siegal at the local cafe. He'll be in Beijing from February through mid-August, so it was good to see him.

I leave you with a snippit of girl talk: "Damn it all, screw baritones and their pink dress shirts."

ADDENDA (11:45 pm) The above comment has sparked some interesting responses in re pink dress shirts. A not-entirely-random sample:
Ancona: Huh?
Worthen: Of course they're sexy. I'm wearing one as we speak. (There is no good response to that statement.)
Druce: What crack addict thought that up?
Rober: I don't wear them myself, but I'm not against them.

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