joanne and i met up for our yearly dinner last night. it's the second and probably last yearly dinner in chicago. we meet up more in the states than in singapore even though we are both singaporeans. we met in church, when we were both youth ministry leaders. our first conversation was in a long car ride to the airport to send someone off. we hardly knew each other then. i don't remember why i was supposed to be in her car. but i'm glad.
she had a different energy about her that i had not seen before, a sort of joy and lightness of being. and it was refreshing being around someone whom emitted light and joy, and genuinity. we split an ahi tuna burger, and an umami burger. and also bomb af maple bacon fries. i was so excited for her to try the truffle ketchup cos it's so good. it had been a long day/couple of weeks, and somehow meeting with her was some sort of respite, as if everything stopped for a while. maybe it was the intentionality of presence in some sense. i've been trying to do that more. i feel like in the midst of busyness there's been a need to compartmentalize, and not be thinking about everything and everyone all at once, cos that's just hella overwhelming and it'll break you more than you're already broken. she obviously enjoyed the meal, cos i have the best food recommendations, and we were ready to go when our server was like "would yall like some pie" and i was like hell yes to some key lime from bang bang!!! we were so full but so satisfied.
i was bummed that she would have left by friday when the opening of shelby clare and my show was happening, then i realised i had the keys and could bring her to the space then. i laughed. we took the creaky weird elevator up. it's odd to think about space, and how it transforms with bodies. like the idea of an "opening" is a bunch of people, art, alcohol, talking. but bringing her in to a space that right now was just being set up, and incomplete, and just me and her -- there was some sort of intimacy that would be different from an opening. i told her about our work, and she asked questions, and it was nice to be in that space, with the windows facing the intersection at damen, and feeling like everything was kind of under or below us, but we were just there ya know?
we headed back to mine after, and hung out the couch listening to the milk carton kids, and bon iver, and talked about faith/christianity/stuff. i feel like i havent had a decent conversation about where i am in my faith/belief in God in a way that didn't feel like people were trying to convince me that being a christian is the way to go in a while. she listened and shared her experience, and it was really nice. i love having people over so much.
i finished the bfa proposal like 5 minutes before it was due, and was basically half asleep writing the last quarter of it, passed out on the couch at midnight, and the next time my eyes were open was 6.45am. i stayed on the couch for another 2 hours, and was late for class.
