People everywhere, be it London, San Francisco, Europe or Anywhere, actually ask me where I am from and then I provide them with the details – born in Canada, went to SF in 1967, then to London in 2014. But invariably someone says, no matter what the country or place of the observer, that they think I must come from New York. I do think it is my brashness, because New Yorkers are brash and I do LOVE brash. I suppose it would be appropriate to define BRASH. a brash, noisy man: self-assertive, assertive, cocksure, full of oneself, self-confident, arrogant, thrusting, bold, as bold as brass, audacious, brazen, brazen-faced; forward, impudent, insolent, impertinent, rude, cheeky; informal cocky, pushy, brassy. ANTONYMS meek, diffident. My goodness, I would much rather be brash than meek and diffident and after all, I was a lawyer. How could one be a successful lawyer if one were meek and diffident.
I do love being self-confident, bold as brass, cocksure as it is fun and fun for everyone around me. So There! So There! So There!
I am thinking that after so-called Great Britain kicks me out again, at the expiration of my student visa, I shall come to New York to live. I have spoken about this to two New Yorkers and they say that they would welcome my presence. So There! So There! So There!
As usual I have found a favourite restaurant and I go there constantly. My NYC ‘home away from home’ is the Osteria Laguna. It is fantastic, I discovered it quite accidentally. The food is Italian, it is beautifully decorated, its walls are golden in colour. The gnocchi is the fluffiest and best this person has ever consumed. Its risotto is perfect and I am the Risotto Queen and know of what I speak. I first consumed risotto on a trip to Italy, came home to California and assembled a Risotto Cookbook for Grace Raube, one of the California people I no longer see or visit when I go to the San Francisco Bay Area. She makes no effort to see me or stay in touch with me, as do others. I figure it is their loss and no longer feel any sense of personal loss or repudiation. It leaves more space in my life for new and interesting people.
But back to Osteria Laguna. I dine alone and there is ample opportunity to observe those around me. It is rather fascinating and there is this phenomena that I thought was unique to the women of Marin County, California. I shall describe it. Two women of advanced middle age are dining or drinking together. They only speak to each other, oblivious of their surroundings, totally oblivious. They seem intent on pleasing each other, impressing each other. There is no evidence that they are lesbians but appear to be divorced. If one eavesdrops on their conversation it is about other people, usually women and it is not pretty. It is catty and cruel to the extreme. The absolute extreme. They are not discussing Nietzsche, nor any philospophy, nor ideas, nor politics, nor art, nor culture. Now not all women in pairs are like this and actually two other women at the bar at Osteria Laguna were polar opposites – funnily one was black and the other white. I went and spoke to these two women and we laughed at the phenomena and we exchanged our Instagram monikers. By the way, I have only seen white women carry on the exclusivity with one another but there are few. If any, black people in Marin County, California. New York is of course different and there are scores of people from different countries. It is most refreshing. The same is true of London but most of Vancouver has only two flavours – Canadians or Chinese. What motivates these women? Why do they do this? My theory is that it is the fear of being alone. But I am alone, but so not alone. I am surrounded by people who quite care about me. As a staff member at Trump international Hotel pointed out, I react with people as if I have known them my whole life and they respond in kind. I was not always like this – I guess it started when I went to London as that was the scene of changes, probably because of the near death experience. (See the About Me section of this blog.)
As you can see I am having a fun time in NYC. Originally Kathleen and I were going to museums but she somehow bailed. She wrote: “I need an additional week in New York I have so many people to see and connect with! My Tuesday and Wednesday are now full with meetings for my sculpture, so I will not be able to go to the other museums as I am busy.” But it is rather interesting that Kathleen, an artist, has been to none of these museums. I spoke to Iso about the situation and we decided that I did not have to go to museums this week. I have been to them all before on prior visits to NYC and I am going to be spending the next year and a half going to museums with my Sotheby’s Art Institute program. So instead I am rushing about pretending I am a New Yorker AND I am passing. Hahahaha. So this is a short blog as I have to get out and get with it all. I also need to send my stuff to London, it is a pain and I am having problems but wonderful Lina says that she will help me. I love the staff at this hotel, well most of the staff. The General Manager is attempting to interfere with my Constitutional Right to Free Speech but I think I will let it slide. One has to pick their battles.
The photograph (s) are of the food at the Osteria Laguna.
