I think I just had my last socially-distant meal for the year. Let me explain. I’m a slave to the weather apps on my phone. I take them seriously and often, as I compare the two I use to one another, and then decide how warmly to dress before I leave the house. (Note: when staying home I actually don’t bother.)
Yesterday, despite the actual number of the temperature, there was a lot of sun, and I had lunch with a friend outdoors, until the sun moved and we could stand it no more. It was fine. And just think of the calories I burned when I shivered!
Today, I had my second lunch out – my busiest week yet! It was truly cold, despite the distant heat lamp, that though I enjoyed catching up with one of my oldest friends, it was really too cold to chat and we had to sit too distantly to properly gossip. I just have to admit that it’s going to be a long haul. Gloves are a must, and between the gloves and the mask, it’s all too much.
Nevertheless, we have one another. Whether you are dusting, walking, on your stationary bike, or in your car, podcasts are user-friendly. (By the way, if you listen to the accompanying podcast, please review it on whatever platform you use. We could really use the boost.) I listen to plenty of others as well as books on tape and the occasional article.
Staying home? Not a problem. But to be honest, the decluttering isn’t going as swiftly as I’d hoped, to no one’s surprise. (The piles of New Yorkers just might have to go, alas.)
Gift buying and wrapping intervened, so it might be a few more weeks.
Still there are Facetimes with my Exhibits, Zoom cocktails with friends, zoom conversations, and classes, performances, and webinars. There are books to be read, baths to be savored, and cheeses to spread on crackers. Hunkering down in the winter is not going to be a huge sacrifice, and if you find me complaining, just shut me down.
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Before I tell you my list of 5 things that make my life better, I want to introduce today’s guest.She is a doctor I met through her wise observations on Twitter.You’ve probably read her or seen her on television.It is Dr. Bandy X. Lee, a forensic psychiatrist and expert on violence who is also the president of the World Mental Health Coalition.Dr. Lee has been alerting us to the dangers of having such a truly disturbed and dangerous man as our president.She edited both editions of “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 37 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President” (Macmillan, 2017 and 2019), which was on the New York Times bestseller list.Dr. Lee has taught at both the Yale Schools of Medicine and the Yale School of Law.I feel lucky to have persuaded her to join us today
The 5 Things that made my life better this week:
1) Noodles. Or call it pasta. Or call it lo mein. Or anything else from any other cuisine. Be they made with or without eggs, with or without wheat, with artichoke, rice, potato, or garbanzo beans, there is something so comforting, so warming about eating a bowl of that plain wiggly stuff with butter, or sauce, or soup, or pesto. However I have it, it always makes me happy. A version of it is on my menu several days a week.
2) Elected officials, many of them Republicans, who are not capitulating to Trump’s heinous seditious scheme to undo our election. For example, Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger, a Republican who voted for Donald Trump. And the noble Gabriel Sterling, an elections official in Georgia, also a Trump voter. Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania called Trump’s insistence on overturning the election in PA “unacceptable.” It’s amazing how little one has to do – basically distinguish right from wrong – that will prove a person has a spine. It’s a pretty low bar, but here are 3 fellows who’ve shown some this week. That’s a comfort.
3) Something that keeps me giggling to myself. Okay, I’ll tell you what it is. It’s a trailer for something called a “Lifetime Mini Movie” starring Mario Lopez as Colonel Sanders, in something called A Recipe for Seduction, which is premiering at NOON on December 13th. In case you wondered, this entertainment is sponsored by Kentucky Fried Chicken. We all need a laugh. Watch this trailer immediately. I’ve watched it four times in a row. Don’t take my word for it.
4) Chanukah. It started last night. It was always my favorite holiday as a child, when I’d spend the previous month reading and rereading the FAO Schwarz catalogue, until I practically knew the sku numbers by heart. Now I have to hope that my gifts reached my exhibits and theirs on time. And I suppose we’ll do it by zoom. Chanukah is the Jewish holiday which celebrates a military victory and the improbable miracle of a tiny amount of oil – enough for one night, which lasted 8 nights. We light the menorah, a candelabra with 8 candles, and exchange presents. I’m guessing we’ll be in person a year from now, so no complaining!
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Dr. Bandy X. Lee
Dr. Bandy Lee’s 5 Things
1. Rembrandts
3. Meditation
3. Human thriving
5. Learning to cook with her 8-year-old niece
More about Dr. Lee:
You can learn more about Dr. Bandy X. Lee at:
Website: bandylee.com
Twitter: @BandyXLee1
Twitter: @dangerouscase
The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 37 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President.
Updated and Expanded with New Essays.
The 5 Things That Make Life Better podcast is recorded and produced at The Field in NYC.
My team is Shpresa Oruci, Michael Porte, Sam Haft and Boco Haft.