Last Night: An Exercise in ‘Event Discipline’
Yesterday was another whirlwind of errands, appointments, phone calls, blocked writing periods, and other misc tasks...I got back to my apartment at about 5pm and made an executive decision not to attend the Blue and Cream event...I regret it slightly because it turns out, as I suspected, a large number of my friends, including my friends and former 2001 Dalton classmates Arden Wohl and Sam Greenes (I haven’t seen Sam since i left for boarding school...would’ve been so crazy to see her). But you can’t go to everything. I’m starting to learn the art of picking and choosing. ‘Event discipline’ is an art and the type of writing is a constant balancing act. But I’m getting much better at it. I decided, last night, for example, to stay home and work until midnight, but still head out to Beatrice to meet my friends after I’d been productive for the better part of the evening.
Leven Rambin, Kristian Laliberte, Annabel Vartanian, and Liam McMullan were already there when I arrived. I hung out with Leven for a bit...it was actually the first real face time outside the ‘cocktail/event’ circuit I’ve had with her. I give her tremendous credit for one thing, having only gotten to know her in the past month or so: she is fiercely confident (and practically scolded me for not opening up to her right off the bat). You don’t expect people who are written about everyday to be so animated, outgoing, and talkative. I converse with a lot of public figures and most of them are far more reserved when you first get to know them. Leven doesn’t have a ‘no comment/bullshit’ thing to her. Very cool. We talked for awhile about stuff I would never divulge to you (that’s my strict policy on this blog...I’ve made it clear that I’m not a ‘gossip columnist’ when it comes to my friends...unless, of course, they fuck me...jk), and then Lev had to take off to meet a special someone who prefers not to come to Beatrice for reasons I certainly understand. I hung out with Kristian, Liam, and Annabel for the rest of the evening.
Liam announced his nickname for me (“TFS”) to the vast majority of those gathered at Beatrice that evening, but made up for it by giving me a hand massage. He’s actually really really good at those. Nothing sexual people. We gave him some feedback about his ‘trademark’ hair and I told him it was ‘poofier’ last night at Ally Hilfiger’s art exhibit and that he should try to keep it that way...
Kristian seemed absolutely exhausted, having just gotten back from a two-day sales pitch in Boston for Unruly. Whatever anyone wants to say about him, he’s working hard. I see Kristian and Timo a few times a week on average and they’re always busy with the label and the travel time alone (because so much of what they do is around the country) takes a toll, I think, on sleep. The ‘event’ circuit is sleep-depriving enough in New York: I can’t begin to imagine having to do it in multiple cities. There’s a lot in store for Unruly, I think, this year.
I left Beatrice around 2/2:30...slightly later than I had planned. Kristian and I were having a pretty good heart-to-heart, not to mention the fact that he was giving me pretty good business advice and even contacts (for all of that non-existent work I do during the day).
Tonight is going to be interesting...
ESSENTIALLY EMILY
Wednesday, March 5, 2008