Wednesday, April 30

my dance crew vs. your dance crew

Michael: I ran down Meredith in my car.
Ryan: Did you do this on purpose?
Michael: No, I was being negligent. But she's in the hospital. She's fine, recovering nicely. Tiny little crack in her pelvis. But she will be up in--
Ryan: Did this happen on company property?
Michael: Yes. It was on company property with company property, so ... double jeopardy. We're fine.
Ryan: I don't think you understand how jeopardy works.
Michael: Oh right, I'm sorry. What is, "We're fine?"

hee, hee... i stole the above from Bear's away message and maybe i just find it funny b/c we're in finals mode but either way i do. occassionally i'm a law school nerd. deal w/it.

argh...i hate finals mode. and as a distraction, i'm catching up on posts from days of yore. and just to show how "yore" this post is: it relates to Crush. so that's how long ago it is.

on a random friday night, DRC, Coleslaw and i were too lazy to do anything big, but wanted to do something. so we gathered up Egg and She and we headed over to Brazen which ended up being pretty jumping w/BLSers. there had been vague plans to head into the city for a party being thrown by CabbagePatch but we were too lazy...that is, until we got a text that Crush was there. and DRC being the hilarious home-girl she is, told me she would go w/me if i wanted to go. so i booked it home, changed into more city-appropriate clothes and make-up and we hopped a cab over to Galway Hooker just so i could "casually" bump into Crush. now if that isn't the most high-school-crush behavior, i don't know what is. however, i did find out that Crush has a dance crew, as do i.

i'm sure everyone's gotten into the crazy of America's Best Dance Crew and it was after watching that show that DRC came up w/the idea to form our own dance crew. so we did. and it's called Redonky Kong. what what!! we haven't really done anything but we're always avidly recruiting, if you're interested. of course you'll have to try out. it turns out Crush has a dance crew too, full of gangly asian guys and 1 white guy. we will battle. o yes, we will.

there i was, trying to be all non-chalant but still strike up a convo w/Crush. i also took a moment to try and not be so obvious so i introduced myself to 1 of his friends. here's what happened when we spoke:

"hey, i'm _____. i don't think we've ever met."
"hi, i'm BFF. you're name's ______? oh, i've heard it before."
"really?! from who?"
"Crush has mentioned your name before. he even mentioned you earlier today."

i just about fell on the floor. of course i couldn't contain myself and told him he better not be messing w/me and instantly confessed my crush on Crush. he assured me he was being honest and i was extremely happy. so i sidled over to Crush to continue our "non-chalant" convo when he started to make moves to leave the bar. luckily for me BFF came to my rescue and offered to buy everyone 1 last round before we left. when he came back w/drinks he slyly whispered in my ear,

"you totally owe me. i just saved your ass."

and it was true. w/o BFF, Crush would've left! thanks to his good work we all ended up staying until Galway Hooker closed and by coincidence LambFrenzy was at the bar across the street and we all took cabs back to Brooklyn. we were 9 ppl total so we split into 2 cabs and i took the opportunity to be in Crush's cab. and since we were 5 and the other 2 ppl in the back were girls, i took the opportunity to sit on Crush's lap. i mean, what could i do? it had to be done so we could all fit. ahem...yea, right.

however, i totally botched it afterwards b/c then BFF and i really did become BFFs. we were like 2 girls gossiping at a slumber party and i stopped focusing on Crush so i could get the dirt on him. but hey, i've admitted that when i get high school crush-y i end up talking to everyone except for my crush. it's just the way it is.

Saturday, April 26

Maternal Instinct

i had Trial Advocacy final exams the saturday after my birthday (which blows) which also made it so that i couldn't really do anything over the weekend to do a big birthday blow-out. this still ends up working out well tho b/c considering exams are May 1st it's much better to reserve the current time for studying and have a birthday party after exams. and that's what the plan is.

let me preface this by saying i love my friends. since i couldn't have a party my good friends decided to have a nice dinner instead. o wait, i'm getting ahead of myself. so the friday before my Trial Advocacy i was pretty much focusing on preparing for my final-which was a mock trial and i had to be on the defense side of a rape case-but i got a call from Coleslaw who had just gone to see Forgetting Sarah Marshall which i couldn't go to b/c i had to meet my defense partner. however, i didn't have to miss out b/c Coleslaw called to invite me to go watch the movie w/her. no, you didn't misread that. Coleslaw was willing to watch the movie two times. in a row. she thought the movie was that awesome. and i won't lie: it was pretty damn good.

"Snuffle-of-a-gus fucks my shit up"
ok, now we're up to speed. so for my quiet birthday celebration we went to dinner at Noodle Pudding which i've never been to. totally worth it. yummy yummy italian food and such a lively atmosphere (sometimes to the point of noisy) but totally worth it. i had the yummiest linguini puttanesca and a bottle of pinot noir for only $26! we were debating on ordering dessert but then Egg revealed that he had a surprise dessert for me at home so we decided to forgo dessert and head back to Feil. however, Coleslaw and i did partake in a shot of limoncello. yummy. i haven't had that since i was in Bologna visiting Nells.
turns out Egg bought me the cutest and densest chocolate birthday cake. it was adorable. and then we started to watch crazy youtube videos. we watched little kids playing guitar hero, little kids dancing to thriller, and Unicorn Planet. and then somehow the convo turned to how there is a website for every fetish that a person could have (i don't remember how this conversation happened). and Coleslaw, as an example, used cast fetishes. and none of us believed her so we googled it. and it turns out, yes, there are many websites devoted to cast fetishes. just to clarify, a cast fetish is when a person gets turned on by watching girls who have casts scratch them-the cast that is,not the person watching. weird.

in case you didn't realize this, i'm kind of a frail little girl. whenever the weather changes drastically i inevitably get sick b/c i never wear the right clothes. so on birthday dinner night i wore the cutest dress with a cardigan but it ended up being a little balmier and windier than i thought. and so i got sick. blech. and that turned into strep throat so double blech. however, what really freaked me out was when my mom called me on monday night. i'd decided not to tell her i was sick or else i would get a scolding about how i always let this happen etc. so when she called, in my most normal voice, i answered, "hello?"

and her immediate response was, "so you're sick huh?"

it totally took me by surprise! i immediately responded with "how did you know?" and she replied b/c i always get sick when the weather changes like this so she just knew i was. but i still found it eerie and an example of how strong a maternal instinct can be.

Thursday, April 24

It Wasn't Planned, I Swear!

i've been deathly ill again except this time was a little bit different. i actually had strep throat. crazy. i finally broke down and went to the doctor's today and am happy to be on antibiotics. Coleslaw was right, as soon as i took them i instantly felt better. hooray for drugs!

before all this finals craze started, i got a call from DRC. who was very drunk. so essentially i got drunk-dialed. turns out she and Coleslaw had gone to trivia night at Geraldo's. i actually have a beef to pick w/SBA and this stupid trivia night thing. they always advertise it as "Kung Fu Trivia." now, let me ask you, what comes to mind when you see or hear that? you would naturally assume that all the trivia is related to kung fu right?? well that's what i thought anyways. turns out it's not. and there's no real rhyme or reason to why they call it that. someone just liked it. LAME. what happened to truth in advertising? ok, my bad, sidebar. back to the story.

so DRC's drunk-dialed me to call me down to Geraldo's to drink w/a bunch of them who stayed after trivia night. i turned her down and opted for Top Chef and some reading. but then i realized i was watching Top Chef on Crush's date night and opted to go down to Geraldo's after all, otherwise i would get all obsess-y. i got there and encountered extreme drunken revelry with a keg and all.

turns out the gang had been watching South Park earlier and had decided to play a drinking game where they would drink every time the word "internet" was mentioned. good thing the whole episode was about the internet. so yea, everyone was a little tipsy. then there were games of Up the River, Down the River and a very tedious game of Asshole and then there was a group decision to go to Brazen Head. so we all headed to Brazen Head and by that time it was after midnight and technically my birthday. so shots and more drinks and the rest of the night passed in a blur.

Coleslaw, DRC and i walked back to Feil and all stopped in to Coleslaw's to rehash the convos of the night (which are always sordid and hilarious). DRC were sitting on the sofa when all of a sudden i hear a very forlorn sigh come from Coleslaw's bed. DRC and i look over and we see Coleslaw snug as a bug in a rug in her bed making these really sad sounds. we dash over to check on her-actually i dash over, DRC went to the kitchen to make a cream cheese bagel-and Coleslaw just tells us we don't understand but that she's fine.

it was very weird but funny. what made it funnier was that the next day she had no idea what she had been so forlorn about.

Thursday, April 10

Pioneer

Stitch is amongst the valorous and brave few of my Manhattan friends that ventured into Brooklyn Heights last week. i'm so proud of her.


i haven't seen Stitch in months so it was a really good experience to see her again. so much has happened since when i last saw her (which was when we both saw Lance Bass at One if i remember correctly). we went to dinner at Lunetta which is a restaurant that seems to have been getting a lot of buzz lately but has been open ever since i moved to Brooklyn. we decided to go all out for the meal even tho both of us are in tight monetary situations right now. i truly do believe in this kind of going-out-to-eat philosophy: since you're already out, might as well take advantage and eat food that you would never be able to make yourself and is delicious.


we split a bottle of red wine (around $45 for the bottle-can't remember the name but it was light like a pinot noir but w/a slight robust flavor), and Lunetta's definitely got a very Italian-centric choice of wines that ranges from very affordable $26 a bottle to reserve bottles that go into the $100+ per bottle. since Lunetta's technically small plates, Stitch and i ordered 3 mains and split those and the waiter was very accomodating and made sure to serve each plate in courses vs. plopping them all down on the table at the same time. we started w/the gnocchi which was served in an amazing ricotta and tomato sauce. that was followed by the orrechiette w/rapini and sweet sausage which was also delish, especially since it was topped w/a liberal helping of parmesan cheese on top. lastly we had the berkshire pork belly which was salty but in a good way and was the perfect end to the meal. i definitely want to eat at Lunetta again and try their various kinds of bruschetta and maybe leave room for dessert too. as such, Stitch and i were stuffed by the end of our meal and skipped out on dessert.


the end of our meal was perfectly timed so that we could go meet the future SBA at Trout which is about 5 mins from Lunetta. the SBA-ers were getting food tho so Stitch and i sat at the bar and ordered drinks. i ordered a Jack and Coke, and like the pretend hard-ass i am, after sipping my drink for a bit, i asked the bartender to add some more Jack b/c it tasted kind of light. he arched his eyebrow at me and said,

"oh really? are you sure it's not just light for you but regular for everyone else?"

i sheepishly said yes, and he added some more Jack to it. then DRC came bouncing over and asked for a margarita, with extra tequila. he looks at me and then her and asks, "are you sure? because ppl always ask for that but then complain that their margarita tastes only like tequila and nothing else."

DRC re-assures him that she is not one of the ppl and he makes her a strong margarita. as a joke, she calls him back and goes, "excuse me, but this margarita tastes like tequila!" we all get a good laugh and she bounces away. only i turn back to the bar and the bartender has now poured 4 shots of tequila for us! i look around for a savior and recruit Egg to come to my aid and try to politely decline the shot but since it was from the bartender's good will i couldn't kindly refuse.

and we all know tequila's my kryptonite. so after that we all headed over to Brazen but at that point i was barely able to stand up on my own and i had a drink or two before i quickly ducked out and into the safety of my bedroom.

Tuesday, April 8

on a scale of 1 to 10

"so on a scale of 1 through 10, in terms of attractiveness, what would you rate me?"

this is the question i harassed my guy friends with this weekend. hey, don't judge me. everyone needs a little reassurance some times. so what prompted this sudden self-esteem questioning?

ok, let me give a little background. while yes, i'm 25 yrs old (soon to be 26-yikes), i am still attending law school, and no matter how old or mature you may think you are, when you're in school, you're really in school. it's like college (sometimes even high school) but the age range of the students is much higher. and as happens to every girl in school, i have developed a little crush. let me re-emphasize the term LITTLE. yes, LITTLE. it's a totally hopeless crush (as they all tend to be-hence the term crush, otherwise a more suitable term like "like" would've been used) so if i do know you and you read this and i happen to see you, let's not delve into the question of "who is it?" because it's so silly.

regardless, Crush was at a birthday party i attended. here's a little-known fact about me: when i have a silly crush on someone (as is this case) i find it impossible to have normal interaction w/them. i literally revert back to high school where i have no idea how to be normal with that person. so instead i just ignore them for the most part. which is exactly what i did. i talked to everyone else there but not Crush. this worked for a while.

until i blacked out.

argh...i truly truly hate blacking out. anyone who knows me already thinks i'm goofy and reedonkulous and that's when i'm sober and conscious of what i'm doing. now imagine me just doing and saying whatever pops into my head. scary, right? i'm pretty sure that's what happens to me when i black out. and for all my friends, i'm taking this moment to say SORRY!!!!

some time during this party, i just hit the wall and everything after that point is one big blank. i've managed to piece together a few things from eyewitness testimonies:

1.i engaged in a conversation w/Crush, the contents of which i've gleaned was extremely embarassing. needless to say, i will not be able to look Crush in the eye from this moment on.

2.right after talking w/Crush, i became a stumbling mess. i apparently walked into the table and bumped into walls. then i went to the bathroom and Mouse, also extremely inebriated, followed me to help me hold my hair under the impression i was going to the bathroom to throw-up. once inside i let her know i was only in the bathroom to pee and Mouse felt embarassed but was too drunk to exit the bathroom. she recently apologized to me and wanted to reassure me she wasn't weird but since i have no memory of the incident it seems things all worked out.

3.i have a cut right above my left butt-cheek. no one has been able to shed any light as to how that got there.

4. there is a dispute about whether Mouse or Crush spilled beer on me.

and that's that! all i know is i woke up in Coleslaw's bed at 6:40 am with no idea about how i'd gotten there.

also, i dropped my phone into the toilet (never put your phone in your back pocket). it was wonky for the rest of the weekend but is hopefully back on track now. i've been letting it rest for now and we'll see what happens.

p.s.-just in case you were wondering, my guy friends being the good ppl that they are, all gave me positive ratings on a scale of 1-10.

Tuesday, April 1

Taipei 2008: the prequel

i'm back....miss me?

i also can't let this go unmentioned: i'm sitting in Professional Responsibility and my professor is talking about deception and legal ethics and he starts going into this hypo and starts it by saying:

"i'm going to build this building. yea, it's 3X larger than everything else aroudn it but i don't care. i'm going to build it, just like a penis into the sky."
ahem, excuse me professor? that's really the only reason to come to class. anyways, back to the point of this entry...
for spring break this year, Princess and i went to Taipei for 10 days. technically i'm an ABC, but i spent many summers as a kid in Taipei and it always holds a special place in my heart. then when i was legal drinking age...phew, Taipei became my favorite playground as well.

we took a thursday flight out so we could maximize our time in Taipei and manage to have 2 full wkds in the city. we had a nightmare incident occur with lastminute.com: they lost our tickets (it happened in an X-files mystery kind of way; they were supposed to send it via FedEx and supposedly someone in Feil signed for its receipt but Princess never got it) and then we called American Airlines (AA) and were told that our reservations were on record so there was no worries. on the day of the flight, all hell broke lose. i've never spent that much time at check-in counter. apparently, lastminute.com had issued us paper tickets when they should've just made it e-tickets. and lastminute.com had the authority to change it, but they were too lazy. basically, w/only 30 mins left to get onto our flight, Princess and i had to pay for "lost tickets" ($100 each, although lastminute.com has promised to reimburse Princess for the fees-we'll have to see if that pans out) before they would issue us boarding passes.
the flight over was fine, tho 17 hrs is always brutal. we made a stop in Tokyo Narita Airport. the Japanese really know how to live. the terminal was nice: shower rooms for freshening up, free internet lounges sponsored by Yahoo, delish food. the only negative is how expensive everything is. we transferred to Japanese Asia Airlines (JAA). i totally recommend flying Japan airlines from now on. the food was awesome, the service was all smiley, and complimentary booze! after this trip i've made a not-so-shocking discovery. Asian stewardesses are so much nicer than white ones. ok, i know that statement's not PC but whatever, it's true. the flight from NY to Taipei was all asian stewardesses and the service was all smiley, dainty and polite. on the way back, the flight from Tokyo to NY was all white stewardesses and they were bitchy, rude and curt. it made a big difference.

we arrived in Taipei around 10 pm on friday night and altho i was raring to go, Princess was exhausted and jetlagged so we went straight to bed. the next day we headed over to DanShui, and since it was a wkd, the place was packed. tons of ppl on the street, eating street food, buying crazy cheap things, playing carnival games. we took a break at Red Castle for tea and coffee which i'd never been there before although i've been to DanShui many times. the view's amazing and it's a really nice setting. altho we were there in the late afternoon, the place would be an amazing dinner date. later that night, we went to RaoHe Night Market, which was Princess's 1st experience w/a Taipei night market. following the night market, we went out for KTV, which as everyone in Asia knows, is a huge going-out activity. we tried to get into PartyWorld (this and Holiday KTV are the biggest KTV chains) but the place was booked (see? it was friday night and KTV was booked). instead we ended up at K9 which is located in the 24-hour shopping center Core Living Mall. Princess proceeded to polish off an entire bottle of red wine by herself and then all hell broke loose. there were only 5 of us there that night and 2 of us managed to make-out scandalously. i was not 1 of them.

we did a lot of shopping in Taipei. phew, Princess can shop! i've realized we have very different clothing styles. she's classy and elegant vs. me who's casual and teeny-bopper. when i took her down the main shopping strip, for the 1st time i understood what it's like to be a boyfriend accompanying a girlfriend shopping b/c we would go into stores totally Princess's style but not mine and i would have to wait on the side while she tried on clothes. we checked out WuFenPu Night Market, which is all clothes and nothing else. that's my favorite shopping area. plus, at that point i'd gotten really good at bargaining w/vendors. i took Princess to XiMenDing, another favorite place for shopping but also for hanging out. however, this was the day before Princess got sick so she lost steam really quickly altho she did manage to maximize the shopping. lastly, we went to Shilin Night Market but at that point we were both really shopped out and we only shopped for souvenirs and trinkets.

so aside from major shopping, we also ate a lot of food. this is pretty typical for Taiwan. the country's all about food and drink. yet the ppl stay so skinny! i just don't get it and it's just not fair. aside from all the street food: deep fried thick japanese mushrooms, skewered quail eggs, seasoned guava and asian peaches, stinky tofu and duck's blood (don't knock it till you've tried it); there was also official meales that my family took us out to eat at.
G-ma took us out to a ladies luncheon w/her friends on top of the Taipei World Trade Center which was so elegant and "ladies lunching" style. it was about 6 courses including shark fin soup. then there was the Japanese meal Princess and i had in XiMenDing. it was at this adorable place called Big Car Wheel (that's a direct translation). the place has been around for decades and it's novelty is that is has the little train that goes around the sushi bar and you can take things off it. while the food was good, the ordeal was a little trying b/c Princess can't read chinese or speak it and so i had to do all the translation and read the menu (which didn't come in english-and my ability to read chinese isn't that great). of course a trip to Taipei isn't complete w/o visiting Ding Tai Fun: this is the must go to place for soup dumplings and chicken soup. the reputation of the restaurant is still going strong (it has probably been around for a decade or just under) b/c we still had to wait 45 mins before we could get a table. i know, i know, chicken soup sounds plain but it really is worth it. and asian chicken soup is never the same as the chicken noodle soup we have in the states. it's just not.

lastly, there was Ma-la hotpot and shabu shabu. i'd never had shabu shabu before and now that i have i think hotpot is 100X better. i can't say why, but it just is. needless to say, there was a lot of food consumed and just thinking about it makes me feel blech but at the same time crave for all of it again. especially asian bread. and all those small 24-hour restaurants for drinking beer and snacking. ah, Taiwan Beer. i miss it all.