[JOYBELLS]
Peace of Mind

Oh yes! Another night in a port-a-john sized booth with the New York Times and an illustrated edition of The Kite Runner. What could be better than the simply shocking news that Roger Clemens did steroids and Afghans dislike American soldiers telling them where to plant their poppies. Not surprisingly, Jennifer lost her voice this week in a co-incidence with the first blizzard of sleet and snow for the year. Slogging on, in defiance of the handful of mud flung at her by her ecology, Jennifer refused to take more than one day off and resolved once again to drink lots and lots of ginger tea with entirely too much lemon.

This though did not prevent her from splitting some vegan pizza with me on our way home from a lecture on Chinese Muslims at the 92nd Street Y – that paragon of secular Jewry. Yes that’s right Hanukah is right here and that means Christmas parties at work and school all of which J and I managed to miss. All for the better and less for the worse this strategic avoidance has proven key in the fight against low self image and as Jennifer’s smooth skin displays: a cultivated lack of the grease available in copious quantities in holiday food. This sort of asceticism will though be corrected next weekend when we drive the long concrete road to Ohio where high fat foods magically appear in clusters of four or five garland by giant mugs of coffee and swags of other indescribable festive “goodies.”

Laughing delightfully, this playful monologue will yet get you nowhere as I have nothing on my mind and a serious lack of concern. Armed with Chinese visas and assurances that I will graduate on time next December, I have little worry other than a faint longing for peace in the Middle East and a desire for an end to global poverty – those utopian imaginings aside life is going down smooth like a bit of bistro au jus with French cut fries and Oaxacan string cheese.