Mutual Admiration Society

I have friends whose praises I do not sing often enough. I will try to rectify this in installments.

There is Yen. She is gifted and a genius and a soft-spoken angel with great taste in music and a fabulous sense of style. She took me and my mom to dinner in Monterey Park on Thursday night. We ordered beef tendons and goose intestines and other less gross-sounding things. I stole a menu because the pictures of things one could get were so appalling as to not be believed. She comes to my aid in a pinch. She brings sunshine with her, no matter how persistent my murk. She lives too far away from me, but that is her only flaw.

There is Jeff. He is also gifted and a genius. After having dinner and drinks at The Arsenal with Ryan and Kadie, we all went to see Drawing Restraint 9 on Friday night, because Jeff worked on it and his name is in the credits and everything. He even knows the way to the Nu-Art, which I apparently do not. Jeff is smart and subtle and supportive and generally down for the good times. He is too good at everything. It makes me ashamed to try things. That is his only flaw.

There is Jessie. My creative partner and a source of sane ballast in my often angst-ridden turbulence. Sometimes Jessie holds my hand when we walk places. I remember when I stopped letting my mother and father do that. And then when I started letting them again. Jessie has never not been allowed. Thursday night, Jessie and I almost went to a birthday party but ended up at the Coach and Horses instead. I took photographs of her on Saturday and ended up with what I feel is an excellent headshot. Then we went to Luna Park, and Jessie took pictures of me. There are so very few people in the world who I allow to see me as I really am. Whether it is a blessing or a curse to be so privileged, she is one of them. We go to the gym together a lot. And she makes fun of the faces I make when I'm on the stair-climbing machine. That is her only flaw.

The rest of you who may have hoped or expected to see a paragraph about you here, don't lose hope. I'll get to you. And you will love it when I do. I promise.