Life's Most Pressing Questions

Adapted from Airmail

Not so much an essay, per se… Just a little something by way of an introduction to new subscribers — WELCOME! I saw another writer do their version of Airmail’s “Most Pressing Questions”, so thought it would be fun. Of course, these are today’s answers — everything could change in another week, month, year…

Enjoy and thank you!

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AIRLINE: United or JetBlue. (You know what you did, British Airways.)

AIRPORT: SFO Terminal 1 

ALIBI: “My phone was on DND.”

APP: Instagram, Threads or Oura

APPLIANCES: I hate them. Especially single-use ones. I have a Magic Bullet for protein shakes, but that’s the only thing I have on my countertop. (My countertop is about 5 square feet, so very precious.) I don’t have a mixer, microwave, rice cooker, air fryer, toaster — any gratuitous hunks of metal. (I do have a very vintage Cuisinart that was hand-me-down from my Mom maybe when I graduated from college, but I rarely use it.) I use a Chemex to make coffee and a Brustolina to make toast on the stove top. (A Christmas gift from my Dad years ago and it’s the best…)

BAG: Currently, a Louis Vuitton Speedy 30 - dug out of my closet after 20 years of patina

BAR: Bar du Marché Rue de Buci, Paris

BEDTIME: Between 11pm and 1am.

BIKE: My last bike was a Pure City step-through with an adorable front basket - it was my mode only of transport around East Hampton, NY when I lived there in the summer of 2017. (Okay, not the only mode of transport. There was also a Fisker Karma in the garage.)

BIRTHDAY: Sun: Sagittarius, Moon: Taurus, Rising: Cancer; Venus in Capricorn

BOYFRIEND: Currently accepting applications.

BREAKFAST, WEEKDAY: Protein shake or GF waffle with almond butter or some kind of egg thing

BREAKFAST, WEEKEND: Croissant or some kind of egg thing or whatever looks good at the farmer’s market

COCKTAIL: Vesper or Vodka Martini, and I want the garnish trifecta: olive/onion/lemon twist

COCKTAIL APPETIZER: Boursin with Mary’s Gone Crackers

COUPLE: Nick & Nora

DATE, COUPLE: Post Ranch Inn, Big Sur

DATE, SOLO: Burger at the bar (with taleggio) & an exorbitantly priced glass of red wine at Spruce, SF

DINNER, WEEKDAY: Homemade soup, baked salmon or seared tuna bowl, Thai food takeout

DINNER, WEEKEND: Steak

DISGUISE: I try so hard to be incognito, but all the guys behind the neighborhood butcher counter still ask me “how’s yer mother?”

DRESS: I love a good dress. They’re my favorite. 

ENEMY: Not enemies, just those who have proven to me that they no longer deserve my time/thoughts/energy/space.

ESCAPE: A very long walk

EXCUSE: “I’m on a writing deadline.”

FIRST LADY/FIRST MAN: Michelle Obama, Doug Emhoff

FLAW: Optimistic and Romantic - both can be fatal but together they’re impossible

FRAGRANCE: Depending on the season: By Redo - Gypsy Water, Hermès - Jardin Sur Le Nile, Chanel - Coco 

FRIEND: Aquarians, Virgos, Sagittarians, Cancers, some Geminis.

GOOD-BYE: Irish

HIDEAWAY: Deetjen’s Big Sur

INDULGENCE: Skincare; Costume jewelry; Diptyque Candles

INSULT: To quote Kara Swisher: “Fatuous Popinjay” or “Chode”; a well-timed “fuck off” or “dipshit” is also a favorite

JACKET: Veronica Beard (always wait for the sale) or Nour Hammour

KISS-OFF: Silently throwing the deuce 

LOVE LANGUAGE: Gifts. I know how this sounds, but it’s actually about thoughtfulness and intention more than the gift. There is nothing worse than an un-thoughtful gift.

LUNCH, WEEKDAY: Salad from Blue Barn or Bi-Rite, or whatever is at hand leftover-wise

LUNCH, WEEKEND: Tacos or Dim Sum

MATCH: Funny, intellectual, cultured, rugged, gentlemanly, good style, great smile, sexy as hell

MOVIES: I have no idea how to begin to answer this.

MUSEUM: Isabella Stewart Gardner or The Broad

MUSICIAN: Andrew Bird, David Bowie, Bill Evans, Miles Davis

NEIGHBOR: Rhoda Morgenstern

NONFICTION BOOK: Slouching Toward Bethlehem & The White Album - Joan Didion, Everybody was So Young - Amanda Vaill, In Cold Blood - Truman Capote

NOTEBOOK: Moleskine soft bound unlined

NOVEL: The Razor’s Edge - W. Somerset Maugham, The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera, The Virgin Suicides - Jeffrey Eugenides, Rules of Civility - Amor Towles

OPERA: So far, Carmen & La Traviata - but there’s too many I haven’t seen yet.

PET: Scottish Terrier most recently, but any kind of wiry, funny, naughty terrier is ideal

PIECE OF ADVICE: Listen to your intuition.

PODCAST: Pivot, Bitch Sesh, You Are Good, My Favorite Murder, Smartless

PRESIDENT: Josiah Bartlett or Fitzgerald Grant

RESTAURANT: This is impossible to answer.

SAYING: “Living well is the best revenge.”

SEASON: Autumn

SHOES: Ferragamo, Freda Salvador, Esska, Nike dunks (I’ve hiked across Spain — my feet are destroyed, ergo comfort at all costs.)

SINGER: Peggy Lee

STATIONERY: Crane, white cards, full name & single line border at the top in black or red

STORM: Pineapple Express

TELEVISION SERIES: Twin Peaks, CSI (all of them), The Bear, Mad Men, The Muppet Show

TIME OF DAY: Depends entirely on what we’re doing.

TOAST: Slainte

VACATION: Someplace with blue water, a beach club, umbrellas, and rosé

VIEW: San Francisco, from the southbound Waldo grade, just after the Robin Williams tunnel 

WAKE-UP TIME: My alarm goes off at 7…

WORK OF ART: Metropolis II by Chris Burden at LACMA

WRITING IMPLEMENT: Uniball Vision fine point black; Blackwing Pearl pencil