We sat down in his new room during the house party and he asked me for some advice, supposedly my having been in his shoes about a decade or so ago, so I spoke about the profession, and dealing with the intersection between perfection and personality, the differences between what is needed and what is wanted, and the perpetual dilemma of seeking artistic idealism within the pragmatic cards of the deck you could re-shuffle and deal but ultimately were limited by so many probabilities outside of your control. Seeing that position again, but from his perspective, helped me to see how all of the advice, mine or others, was self-advice. At a house party. In the middle of the woods. On a Saturday night.
Outside, the other roommates cooked tacos and their housewarming guests searched for the bathroom.