Lunch With Matt

Matt and I hung out today for the first time in a long time. I feel awful for being such a terrible friend – it’s literally been months since I’ve called or stopped by. But we got to see each other today, and it was fun (albeit quick). For our lunch breaks, we both met up at Big Bowl where I had (surprise surprise) a big honkin’ plate of friend rice. I mean, this thing was massive, and I’m the kind of guy who can put a good deal of food away in one sitting.

The two of us got caught up on things, I asked about Tracy and Malachi (both of whom I haven’t seen in ages) and I told Matt about my job. As it turns out, he’s showing some of his work at Illegal Art, here in Chicago. It’s good to have friends who are artists – especially ones as focused and talented as Matt. Like so many of my friends, he makes me question what I do in my spare time, and pushes me to do more creative, artistic work. Of course, I’m not sure he knows this – but it happens. Each time I see Matt, he seems to be doing a little bit better, another contact, another show… I can’t wait to see where he’ll be in another year’s time.

Over lunch, we joked about how much food we had on our plates. After a while, I told him about the two thoughts I had in my head:

Thought #1: I felt full, but I didn’t want to let the fried rice defeat me. I felt I could finish off the rest of it, mainly on principle.

Thought #2: I suddenly realized I was willfully projecting some sort of contest of wills between me and my lunch.

Thankfully, I had the good sense to ask to take the rest home and stopped eating. :)

If you haven’t seen Matt’s work yet, I invite you to check out his web site.