(I know, that photo is overexposed and ghostly, but I always make that face.)
Birthday to-do list for October 20th:
1) Go see the Gregory Crewdson exhibit at Gagosian. [Edit: Further research indicates that it is at the Madison Ave location, way uptown; perhaps it is not likely for tomorrow, specifically. It closes at 6 p.m.]
2) Read a perfect and intellectually stimulating short story or essay.
3) Compliment a stranger.
4) Enjoy a decadent bon bon type thing from the Soho Vosges store.
5) Go get the best Banh Mi sandwich ever in Chinatown.
6) Spend an hour writing about a girl and her horse. Enjoy.
7) Have a classy drink in a classy location.
Fun facts about October 20th: I share a birthday with Viggo Mortensen, John Krasinski, Jerry Orbach, Snoop Dogg, Tom Petty, Rimbaud, and Robert Pinsky. Once I told Robert Pinsky that we had the same birthday, and we shared it with a bunch of poets. He mentioned Mickey Mantle - I replied, “A poet of the bat, sir.” Then I mentioned Snoop Dogg, I believe. (I was in college.) He replied, “I don’t know who that is.” I said, “Oh, well, he’s certainly a poet.”
During the three months I worked at a Cambridge coffee shop, the staff had a mass-freakout when Robert Pinsky came in and wanted a sandwich. Only in Cambridge would you have twentysomethings freaking out over poets.