"Expect a most agreeable letter...I shall have no check to my genius from beginning to end."

December 8, 2015

Dear Jane,

I do detest being deceitful, but you and I both know that the quotation above has not been displayed in its original entirety. My apologies, for playing such a trick on you, gentle readers, but surely you should know better than to believe I could claim to have any sort of genius. An amateur authoress stops at nothing to get her blog read...even if she has to lie to her dearest friends at times by claiming to be a genius. The quote (in it's entirety) is as follows:

"Expect a most agreeable letter, for not being overburdened with subject (having nothing at all to say), I shall have no check to my genius from beginning to end." 

In case you had doubts, I shall now present three reasons to prove to you that I truly am not a genius. (I told you that I had nothing much to say, after all). Oddly enough, all three examples are from my time in high school.

1. Many of my dear friends and family know this already, but I often boast (yes, boast) that I  receieved the exceedlingly poor score of 390 out of 800 on my math SAT...twice! Like George Washington, I cannot tell a lie- I received the same fantastically low score two seperate times despite a noble effort at tutelage on the subject by my dear friend, Hannah. 
2. Additionally, while doing my utmost to intelligently answer a question about global warming on the science portion of the ACT, I proudly wrote that, "the nuclear bombs are destroying the ozone layer." I shall never forget this moment of unfounded and misguided clarity, Jane. I believed in my heart that we could save the world by ceasing the use of nuclear bombs...?
3. While opening presents after my high school graduation party, I came across a gift from my dear sister, Regina. She gave me a beautiful sign that said, "Achieve." Well, in the haste and joyful fury of opening presents, the word had not registered in my mind. In truth, I had no idea what the word was because (for some reason) it looked completely foreign to me. I loudly said, "What is A-KEY-EV?" (My phoentetic reading of the word.) Needless to say, everyone wondered how I had actually completed high school with the generally good grades that I did. 

Well there you have it. Three very strong though random arguments to suggest that I am not a genius. 

In other news, I have spent the last three days working at the sample sale where I was on the team that maintained and controlled the formidable "shirt wall." On this wall, thousands of shirts wait to be man-handled (a newer phrase, Jane) by thousands of men and women who probably do not need to buy more dress shirts. These men and women grab, unfold, stuff, throw, misplace and just generally cause havic wherever they turn. Needless to say, it is a tiresome job trying to keep it in order. 

On Saturday, after working an exhausting day at The Wall (Game of Thrones reference, anyone?), I happily met my sister, Regina and her husband, Adam for dinner in SoHo at a lovely french resteraunt called La Sirène. It was here that I pretended to be completely fine with trying duck liver in the form of paté. Although I behaved as a young lady ought and graciously tried it, I continue to stand by my opinion that it is thoroughly repellent. For my entree, I had Gnocchi Parisian au Gratin, also known as: french macaroni and cheese. It was unbelievably rich and delicious. Word to the wise: you will never go wrong with macaroni and cheese in a french restaurant. 

After dinner, I accompanied my sister and brother in law to their very interesting hotel in Chinatown to spend time with them while they readied for the Great Gastsby Ball they were attending that evening. It was most likely a result of the wine at dinner, but to my utter surpise, Regina asked me if I would assist her in fixing her hair for the ball! I felt as though I were a lady's maid to a great lady of Downton Abbey. It turns out that I have an eye for arranging hair in a fashionable style....although I lack the skill to complete the task. I would wager that if ladies still put powder in their hair nobody would have ever noticed the abundance of bobby pins decorating the back of Regina's head. Regardless of how it looked from the back, Regina decided to leave her hair the way I fixed it and thanked me for my assistance with only a small amount of trepidation. 

I always have more to say whilst writing, than I thought I would. I dare say I would be remiss if I failed to tell you of the extraordinary experience I had last week after Thanksgiving, Jane. Now, instead of returning to New York City directly after the holiday, I journeyed down to Washington D.C. with my sister, Rachael to assist her in moving her belongings from Connecticut. (We are so proud of her as she starts her new job at George Washington University. What an adventure she will have!) Oddly enough, I happened to have a performance in D.C. that very weekend so the timing worked out very well. I was hired to sing in a chorus at an event, but before the first rehearsal I only knew the song we would be singing and that this particular chorus often sings at impressive engagements. It turns out, we were hired to perform at the Smithsonian National American History Museum where there was to be a dinner for billionaires. This is no jest, Jane, only billionaires were invited. More amazingly though, the world-renowned opera singer, Renée Fleming was the host for the evening. As we went into the room to sing our piece (for the billionaire guests), Ms. Fleming was sitting directly in front of us and I watched her, watch us sing. I was utterly speechless after we condcluded our song. Speechless! It was an experience that I will not soon forget.

"Selfie" after the performance.

What a random letter this was, Jane. I hope it was easy enough to follow!

Yours Faithfully,

Amanda