Last night I went to a going away party for a client. She left Miramax to take a job with Martin Scorcese and her co-workers were seeing her off in style at the Tribeca Grand Hotel. It was good to see her beaming.

From the outset, I was on a mission to have a martini. It all came about because of a clairvoyant friend who, earlier in the week, told me to have one. I said, “Can I have a Cosmopolitan instead?” and he said, “No, I want you to have a real martini because I want you to bite into the olive and experience its pungent taste and associate it with bringing joy into your life.”

I proceeded to have a fun exchange with the bartender about it. She suggested a dirty martini since the idea was to focus on the olive. Then she handed me my drink with three olives in it.

I toasted my life and savored each one.