When I put my podcast & newsletter on hiatus this year, I told you about The Big Work Project I was engaged in, an every-five-years user fee negotiation between industry groups and FDA. We finished it on Friday and I took my name-placard after the final in-person session. (Most of the other participants will be back in two weeks for a different user fee negotiation, so they left theirs behind.)

With a newfound work-void in my life on Saturday, I started looking at The Great Spreadsheet That Knows All to check out the pub-dates of various prospective guests and figure out who I can record with and when. Soon, a four-month block of the show snapped into place, if I want it to.

It was jarring to get back into that planning mode after months of hiatus. I soon realized that I had this scheduling/planning/reading routine running continuously in the background for a dozen years, but only noticed when I re-introduced it to the system yesterday. I concluded that wasn’t exactly healthy, and I will try to work on balancing that with . . . living?

Plus, I still have plenty of writing to do for the book, so that needs my focus, not just my spare time.

It was a long week, capped off by a wonderful day.

Sunday: trip to Brooklyn to record with Dean Haspiel and Doug Latino for an episode that will air when the Kickstarter launches for Real Life Comix: Only In New York, the comics anthology that Dino roped me into.

Monday: 10 hours of meetings in NYC for DCAT Week, followed by a reception at the Centurion Club where I schmoozed and took in the view.

I nearly had to leap from the pier onto the ferry, but I showed up 45 minutes early at Pfizer’s HQ that morning because of a calendar mixup. Of all coincidences, a friend of a friend I hadn’t seen in ~20 years walked through the lobby and recognized me while I was cooling my heels, so we caught up for a bit.

Over the next three days, I had nearly a dozen conversations with people who knew me but whom I had no recollection of and had to fake it. In bed Monday night, I wondered if I’m suffering from dementia-related memory loss, or if this is a situation where I make a strong impression on people and stick out in their memory, and hoped it’s the latter (in combination with I’m Tired).

Tuesday: 8 more hours of meetings, followed by a happy hour I co-hosted with an Affiliate Member of my trade group. Fulfilled my annual tradition during this trade show:

Wednesday: only 5.5 hours of meetings, after which I raced back to NJ, got in my car at 5:30pm, and somehow broke the land speed record from Weehawken, NJ to White Oak, MD (3:15). Here’s the morning view of NYC from my hotel room across the river:

Thursday: 5 hours of FDA negotiations, after which I did not break any records getting home; the first 28 miles took 70 minutes, because Baltimore.

Friday: final virtual negotiating session with FDA, and a massive sigh of relief. The 6-volume Calvin Tomkins collection, The Lives of Artists, arrived in the mail and I proceeded to rearrange some bookshelves to consolidate Writing About Art into one area.

Saturday: planning podcasts, rallying, then driving into NYC in the evening for a friend’s dinner-get-together (not strictly a dinner party). I caught up with friends, met new folks, and talked about our lives during the get-together. (I blew off MoCCA Fest in NY earlier in the day, because I just didn’t have the energy to attend that and see all my friends AND go to the dinner-thing.) When I mentioned the podcast to one of my fellow dinner-guests (I’d recorded with his wife years ago), he instantly asked the very insightful question, “How has the show changed over the years?” I met a past guest who is in the process of becoming a better person, and we talked through some of our changes. I realized on the (late) drive home that the combination of work, pod-hiatus and this absolutely brutal winter meant that I haven’t been talking with people enough. Sharing what I do with folks and seeing their enthusiasm left me insanely charged up about finishing the book, getting back to the podcast, and returning to This Mission Of Mine. Hearing about their lives reminded me that we all have our missions.

Sunday: I decided to share a little of my life with you.

Also in March: Amy & I celebrated our 20th anniversary and her birthday, I gave a remote presentation in Berlin about the nice, easy topic of “Geopolitics and the CDMO Landscape,” I booked a trip around the world in May (on a client’s dime), we went up to DIA:Beacon and got to experience some of Richard Serra’s Torqued Ellipses, and I took some Instax.

Recent podcast episodes: Rachel Tzvia Back • Sven Birkerts • Indefinite Hiatus monologue • The Guest List • Jonathan Sandler • Morten Høi Jensen • Prue Shaw

Every book (non-comics) that I’ve finished since 1989.

BIRDY!

Here’s a little BIRDY! for you, rolling her eyes at her dad’s unwanted affections:

If you want to help out with Virtual Memories Show expenses — this email runs $29/month, podcast-hosting is $25/month, and the remote recording account is $20/month — or otherwise Contribute To The Cause, you can make a one-time contribution of any size via Stripe, or a recurring one via Patreon. Or maybe save your money for when I launch a Kickstarter for my photo book.

Postcardery

My postcard-a-day habit is NOT on hiatus, so let me know if you want to be on my list.

Until Next Time

Thanks for reading this far. See you next time, I hope.

Found my coat and grabbed my hat / Made the bus in seconds flat / Found my way upstairs and had a smoke / And somebody spoke and I went into a dream,