Listen—I'm here for a good time, not a long time
Listen—I'm here for a good time, not a long time
Be the Aubrey Plaza you want to see in the world.
Floor Time
/flôr tīm/
noun
the 15-60 minute time period spent laying on the floor in the middle of the work day, typically as a relief from the soul-sucking reality of corporate America.
If you’re like me and crave a daily dose of dread, you probably get The New York Times’ push notifications. And you probably saw this one, “Even a Little Alcohol Can Harm Your Health,” that came out a couple weeks ago. I distinctly remember my phone lighting up as I was housing my second IPA at the airport bar and saying out loud, “kindly, mind your business.”
It’s funny, I feel like every month or so I stumble upon a new article citing a new study that triumphantly claims, “a glass of wine a day will help you live until Sister André’s ripe age of 118” (may she RIP), or “drinking even an iota of champagne will combust your liver,” or, with tinfoil hat on, “enjoy craft cocktails? well tough cheese, the government laces them with nitric acid!”
Ok, so, I exaggerated the last two, but you get the point. People are constantly debating life’s vices, and how much of a good thing is too much (in the case of the aforementioned article, the answer is: any. Snooze).
Fast forward to this week, I come across this op-ed, “We Need Pleasure to Survive.” Yes, I’m aware I read way too much NYT, please don’t @ me. This piece is arguably the kindest clap back to the alcohol article. The author writes, “I do wonder what’s lost if we don’t let go of our superegos from time to time in pursuit of perfect health and potential longevity.”
I hope that we all desire to live long lives. But a life devoid of what makes life good and fun and rewarding (it might be the occassional alcoholic beverage for you, it might not be) doesn’t sound like the magical life I was promised in the brochure—we all got the brochure, right?
I’m using alcohol consumption as an example because that was the topic brought up by the sourced articles. But this sentiment applies to almost every other area of life, too. Physical activity comes to my mind. One of my childhood besties, Alex, has been a competitive athlete her entire life. We know each other from swim team (in which we set a women’s free relay record back in 2010—what WHAT) but her main sport in college and beyond has been volleyball. A couple years ago, she sustained a significant back injury that has her out of commission—and she currently awaits a date for the surgery that can make it better (meanwhile, she gets to experience the joys of America’s definitely-functioning-and-not-at-all-shitty-healthcare system…I jest!). I commiserated with her about my ankle, which has endured 6 sprains in the past 3 years, thereby preventing me from running or joining the pickup beach volleyball league near my house, and has led to months of PT in which my PT, J.Lau, has bluntly put that it will never operate at 100% again. Nice.
J.Lau wants me to decide what is worth the risk knowing that that’s the case. Alex’s PT told her a similar thing. Life is about risk assessment. During this blip of time we spend on earth—and truly, it is just a blip—we decide what is worth it. We decide if we can sacrifice thing A for thing B. And those are the choices that define who we are and what our life is made of.
As I am literally in the process of making a clarified milk Paper Plane cocktail (a multi-hour-long process, might I add), you can pretty much deduce my risks—take that, Dana G. Smith! What are yours?
Something to Explore
Credit to my friend Ruchir for sending me the recipe—if you’re wanting to try out this at-home cocktail recipe for Paper Planes two ways, here it is.
Something Pretty
BIG Oscar news this week!! I’ll be dedicating a future Floor Time to all the Best Picture nominees (aka watching them so you don’t have to), so stay tuned. I’m obviously the most thrilled for “Everything Everywhere All At Once” leading the nominations, especially Michelle Yeoh (aka Her Royal Highness, put some respect on her name!!!), the first AAPI woman to ever be nominated for Best Actress. All that said—a pivot to this white man who is also a first-time nominee…I just can’t stop rooting for him. I don’t know what it is. But his performance in “Aftersun” was stunning—and it was the only movie other than EEAAO that had me crying for 20 minutes after the credits rolled. So congrats, bruv!!
Something To Laugh About
^Good ole Alex 😂
This trend is so dumb but makes me giggle every time.
Still crying. EEAAO is built different. This is flawless.
I’m again sorry for how stupid this is but it produced audible laughter.
And finally, this. Find that whimsy, people!!!
May your weekend consist of that drink you’ve been wanting, the game of volleyball you’ve been craving, and maybe staying up just a little later than you should. Live it up during your blip in time and space!
Til’ next time, humans. Your friend,
Clarice
By the way…I’m reading this.
all about love by bell hooks is altering my entire genetic makeup. I’m not sure how, but it is. She talks of love—in the general sense, not just romantic—as a complicated concept that few of us understand and almost all of us misidentify. Even if you’re anti-love, you should read this, because she kinda explains why that might be the case.
