Seven colleagues treated me to an evening of fried chicken and waffles, endless cocktails, and a light-flashing penis veil tonight in the Lower East side after work. It was low-key, full of laughs and stares from people who were caught off guard by a white veil with flashing penises all over it, and it was so much fun.

I guess in the last year, I haven’t spent much time thinking about any of my female colleagues and how much they actually are a part of my life. I try my best to have a very strict line between work people and friend/family people because I don’t like the idea of favoritism or being too casual in front of my colleagues for professional purposes. But I realized tonight that it isn’t so bad to let my hair down once in a while and just be a woman with a bunch of woman colleagues outside of the office. Even though I may not think they are that close to me, they do know and respect a side of me that perhaps my own friends and family will never get to see, and that in itself is worth something.