A Lovely Art Basel VIP Lunchtime Excursion

I had the extreme pleasure of going to Art Basel with my friend during lunch this past Thursday. I thoroughly enjoyed all the exhibits and people watching, and even had the pleasure of meeting a gallery owner and speaking about some of the art he was exhibiting.

Some exhibits were exquisite, some banal, some downright weird or scary, but all of it wonderful. It was so exciting to see the Hong Kong convention center hopping with so many art galleries, from the most famous to the independent and boutique, and to get such a concentrated dose of culture injected in the middle of my day.  

My eyeballs felt like they have had an entire year's worth of color, texture and composition imprinted on them in the span of an hour and a half.  Similarly, in the past couple of weeks it has felt like Hong Kong has reawakened from the slumber and turmoil of the past 4 years with a vengeance. 

Here are some of my favorites. Turns out staring at art is so deeply good for my soul. 

After all that contemplation and highbrow culture I went to base hall for a late lunch and scarfed down my first guabao (deep fried prawn cake) from the Taiwanese food stand and nearly moaned aloud at how finger licking good it was. Their mayonnaise - what is in it?? 

This wasn't in the same day but to tie in to the art theme, I stumbled upon the global debut of Awol Erizku's Gravity, a 10-meter Tutankhamun-inspired installation, in the lobby of Pacific Place 2 the other day.  It was stunning!  Trust me when I say it was huge. 

Adventure at the American Club

We went to the Club this past Sunday and the weather was abysmal.  Lola still braved swimming with her dad despite the light rain (and actually the water was quite warm) but I wasn't about to get into the pool with two boys who aren't quite water safe yet and already displaying signs of having the sniffles.

After an uninspired run in Eagle's Nest, I offered the boys an adventure.  We took the lifts, opened doors, walked through the gym, looked out the windows, checked out the cafe and library, walked up stairs that led to nowhere... sat and enjoyed popcorn....it was great fun and they were such a delight.

At dinner, we sat next to two other families with kids of similar age.  They all played together and, after dinner, we went out on the grass to play red light green light and tag.  So fun!

Cities Without Ground

On a whim last week I attended a Princeton alumni event during lunch, a short talk and guided visit at the M+ Museum Exhibition, "Hong Kong: Here and Beyond".  I was sorely tempted to skip it on the day (because, Kowloon! Random event! I wouldn't know anyone!) but in retrospect I'm so glad I went.

A couple of architecture alums had gotten together in Hong Kong and written a book 10 years prior entitled "Cities Without Ground: A Hong Kong Guidebook Display" which had pages and pages of maps showing all the interconnectivity of Hong Kong, in particular a part of the Central Western corridor, the fruit of 2-3 years of their manual labor traipsing around studying and mapping out all the maps and tunnels and floor plans of all the bridges, walkways, escalators and moving parts of this part of the city.  

To commemorate the 10th anniversary of the publication and to tie in to the portion of the exhibit detailing Hong Kong's unique architecture, geography, density and design, the museum commissioned them to create a 3D model illustrating the space.  

I walk these malls, hallways, corridors and tunnels every day, but seeing it pulled altogether into a model was illuminating and evocative.  It brought back memories of when I first arrived here, and struggled to understand how to access the city.  

Coming from Manhattan and, prior to that, Chicago, I did not really have a concept of a 3-D urban scene.  I know that sounds really weird because those are large cities with glittering skyscrapers and height on a great scale, but what I really mean is that the social lives of these cities' inhabitants, i.e. the lives of the people, are lived and carried out on the ground.  The closest you come to in Chicago is the El, and even then only portions of it are elevated, and it's a transportation system, so largely serving one purpose and carrying out one discrete function. 

In New York, despite all of its glittering spiky skyscrapers, the spaces in the air are mostly private spaces, apartment buildings and office spaces.  Retail doesn't really exist other than at ground level, and maybe occasionally at one level below ground.  For such a commanding city, the social and public scene in New York is actually incredibly compressed on the vertical axis.

When I got to Hong Kong, I honestly did not understand or know how to access bars and restaurants that were on the 8th, 16th, or 25th floor of a building.  In Hong Kong, I would walk into a nondescript building and find in the lift 20 different shops and restaurants, identified by the little sticker next to the floor number. How do you find this stuff!? was a common refrain I howled in my head at the time.  I had to learn how to mentally configure and navigate shops and restaurants without a physical storefront to map it to.

In Hong Kong, there really are multiple layers to the residents' social, public and private lives.  Ours is a life lived in the sky.

More than anything, the event made me realize how much I miss discussion, learning and discourse.  We basically held a mini precept at M+!  

The discussion raised in my mind all kinds of questions about technology (this project was done before we had drones and before Google Maps was so developed in Hong Kong; would this project still be carried out today, would it still have value, would technology have made any difference in the ease of implementation and if not, why is that?), urban planning (what drives the interconnectivity of these various conduits and walkways, given some are government funded, most are entirely private, some are partially public, partially private?), the impetus of this and the transferability (what unique confluence of factors in Hong Kong has led to this particularly fantastic result, that cities elsewhere have largely failed to replicate despite trying?) and really just a rumination on urban space and policy in general - who shapes it, is it top down or bottom up, is this a good or bad thing, should other cities try to emulate it, what can we learn from this or do to improve upon it?)

I also picked up an unlikely friend if you will - an alum from the class of '85 with whom I conversed the whole way back into the city.  I loved chatting with her about work, life, responsibility, child-rearing... we couldn't stop talking!

I walked away from the event giddy, practically fizzing with excitement.  A couple of weeks ago I was struggling to figure it whether I was an introvert or extrovert.  I think this confirms I am most definitely an extrovert!

A New Ear Development

I decided to get two additional piercings in my right ear lobe. 

It has been something I've wanted for a while, but avoided doing for a long time because I thought it was rebellious, unprofessional, unbefitting a young woman working at a conservative law firm who wanted to be taken seriously, etc. 

Lately, I've come to recognize that so many large and small decisions I make are based on other's expectations, perceptions or standards, and not on my own.  

Part of the beauty and blessing of aging gracefully (40, here I come!) is that it has given me the confidence, awareness and courage to do the things I want.  To give value and space to my voice, a voice I have often repressed, and been taught to silence, all my life.  

I wish I could say that I did it now and not earlier because I've fully grown comfortable owning who I am and what I want.  In truth, that is still a work in progress.  So it's partially due to that, but likely also because multiple ear piercings are all the rage now and quite mainstream, so not quite the bold fashion choice I am making it seem, and also because it gives me the delightful opportunity to adorn myself in additional sparkles.  Who doesn't want more jewels??

I'm hopeful that lobe piercings will be less problematic for me.  I haven't ventured to do a cartilage piercing yet because my skin tends to form keloids and I'm not sure if I want to deal with the pain or lengthy healing process.  For those, I plan to just use cuffs, rather than actual piercings.   

Once decided, it was a surprisingly easy and fast procedure.  My girl friend and I went in to MaBelle in ifc after a lovely lunch in Exchange Square in early February and I was probably done in twenty minutes flat. My technician was very professional.

My unadorned ear, before. So innocent and bare and tender!  What unplucked opportunities...

During - I was mostly nervous that she would aim it wrong or that I would move and cause it to go awry.  For my right ear, my first lobe piercing was always messed up and not good - sitting too low on my ear and at a crooked angle.  The technician told me that it was way too late to fix the first crooked hole in my right ear.

But two quick pinches and voila!  I now have 3 marching up my ear in a row.  I really want one more in my left ear (ideally totaling at least 2 on one side and 3 on the other) but... patience.  I wanted to take it one side at a time given my penchant for side sleeping.

After.  A little bit intoxicated by the needle, but also much relieved. 

I think the next development may have to be an ombre purple streak in my hair...

Since the piercing, I have been going in occasionally to check on the progress, and have been cleaning it every day.  I am so tired of these ugly (but safer, sterilized, titanium) starter studs and can't wait to get them removed.  I am nearing the 6 week mark this week - hopefully soon I can bring on the sparkly hoops and huggies and gemstones!