Rong Time No Shee (read this while squinting your eyes)

before i had Oppa i had O, my chinese oppa. however, O moved to China a few years ago and obviously that makes it hard for him to continue being the protective-older-brother-type he once was (tho it always fall back into place when he comes home for visits). o wait, i'm getting ahead of myself.

on thursday night, Brazen Head was doing a free happy hour-yes, you read correctly, free-where they were serving drinks made with some new vodkas they'd purchased e.g. Absolute Peach, Absolute Pear, etc. perfect for a sometimes girly drinker like me and you know i can't pass up anything that's free. i had only intended to stay there until the happy hour was over which ended up being 8:45 pm (although it was supposed to be until 9 pm) but then Crush showed up and altho i've very much given him up (it would be too incestuous now that he dated/is dating ManEater) he still is (what i consider) good-looking so i stayed a little longer. in the meantime, i had texted Chop and told him to come to the bar to which he replied he would and so i ended up staying out much longer than i'd planned. i also ended up drinking much more than i planned.

and i woke up the next day slightly hungover.

which was quite unfortunate b/c the following friday was jam-packed. and that brings the story full circle.

O was in town until Sunday but would only be in the city that Friday so of course i had to see him. i met up w/him at Bull McCabe's, a bar on St. Marks on the block that i frequent the most but yet never noticed this place, probably b/c it reeks of a dive bar feel-although it contains a decent backyard and a kick-ass high-tech dart board. O was there w/his entire NYU entourage from his college days. it was so good to see them all out together b/c i haven't seen that happen since his NYU days. *sniffle, sniffle* i think i'm getting all teared up. seeing them together reminded me of my high school days hanging out w/them (they were the cool college boys) and all the scandalous hijinxes that occurred. PerfectCouple was also there (yes, it's 1 nickname for 2 ppl). they're so nicknamed b/c they've been dating since 7th grade. that's 16 yrs. and they're finally getting married: this coming saturday actually. congrats!! i love their story. it appeals to the inner romantic in me. i only wish my future marriage story could be as idyllic except that would mean i wouldn't get married until i was 42. no thanks.

unfortunately i couldn't stay long b/c Oppa was having a birthday party at Volstead the same night. since it was Oppa's birthday, i made the obligatory appearance but didn't stay long b/c the when i showed it the party was way too scattered. apparently they were just congregating there until all the invited ppl showed up so they could move to a better venue so there was a whole "limbo" feeling to the party. i still did my part for my oppa tho and bought him a birthday shot (tequila to be exact. i'm such a hypocrite-i would never drink that). then DRC and i made our way to 230 Fifth to meet her friends. talk about nostalgia. i haven't been to 230 Fifth since the time of Gohm, or just about that time. the place hasn't changed much altho it's definitely lost it's super-new-shiny feel to it. rooftop bars just aren't the novelty they once were and they're all over the place now so why bother going to such an overpriced place as 230 Fifth? it seems NYC shares my view b/c when we got there we only had to wait about 5 mins in line before we got in, the rooftop wasn't as crowded as usual and the bathroom lines were manageable. once we got there i got into an intense convo w/Shy on the phone and when i got back to the table DRC was rocked. she'd gotten it into her head that she had to drink as much free vodka as she possible could and apparently she was very successful at doing so.

we left the bar shortly thereafter and what happened afterwards has been relegated to the vault never to be mentioned again. all i'm gonna comment is that my apartment seems to be spanish fly for some ppl, altho, sadly, not me.


since i'm not allowed to talk about the events of that night, i'm gonna dork out and talk about the japanese tv series correlated to this MV. the song is the theme song for Absolute Boyfriend aka Zettai Kareshi. the premise is interesting but definitely comes off as completely idiotic (i know b/c i tried to explain it to Egg and his eyes started rolling before i'd even gotten through the 1st sentence). ok fine yes: it's about a robot boyfriend. yes, you may proceed to roll your eyes too. a girl gets the opportunity to be the test agent for a robot that's been created to be the perfect boyfriend. the girl isn't able to actually enjoy it b/c she gets creeped out by the fact that it's a robot. but the robot boyfriend, in order to be the man she loves, slowly develops beyond his programming and begins to really love her and then there's a whole love triangle w/her boss and...ok, ok, nevermind, it's too hard to explain w/o me looking even dorkier than i already am. but if you ever get the chance to watch it i promise it won't disappoint. when i saw Egg the day after i finished watching the series my eyes were all puffed up from consistently blubbering and crying during the last 2 episodes. it was so good and sad.

i've been listening to the theme song on a repititious basis b/c it's perfect for the series. the title of the song is Okaeri which is roughly translated to "Welcome Home" which is what the boyfriend says every time the girl comes home (and she misses it when he isn't there). sigh... if only life were like asian tv series sometimes.

you're so cute!

who knew dates still exist, and even more so, that i could possibly go on one? i mean, who would be that bold to risk going on a date w/moi? everyone who knows me knows that 1-on-1 things aren't usually my forte. i think i'm pretty proficient at hanging out w/friends but as soon as it's labelled a "date", i'm much less able to function normally. i get all caught up on thoughts like "what are we gonna talk about", "how much am i gonna eat", "do i have food in my teeth", etc.

this one seemed to go better than usual, maybe b/c it came completely out of the blue. Chop and i have been hanging out on the weekends and on friday i called him to see what his plans were and he surprised me by asking if i wanted to go watch Get Smart w/him. the movie's pretty cute and funny; very family-fare stuff. after the movie we ended up catching dinner around St. Marks area at Village Yokocho. i'd never been there before that night but i've always heard really good things. however, it's a little pricier than my usual spots of Kenka and Yakitori Taisho but the menu's more extensive (it's on par w/the options at Kenka) particularly w/asian-style soups and rices. i think i'll give this place another shot in the winter-i'm sure i'll like it more than this time. it was kind of adorable to see Chop try to figure out the crazy asian menu but he was open-minded and not scared at all in trying new foods.

afterwards, we headed back to Brooklyn Heights and headed over to Brazen Head for drinks where Chop ended up getting very tipsy. i've never seen Chop drunk so this was a new sight and super endearing. Chop's usually very composed and shy but when he gets tipsy he's more open and affectionate. apparently, i am a very "awesome" girl (but this may only be when you've had a few drinks).

on saturday i attended a dinner for my aunt and uncle who just had an adorable baby girl, my new baby cousin. it's so weird to see them as parents b/c they're not that much older than me. this is the same uncle who taught me what "dookie" meant and practiced WWF wrestling moves on me. so weird that he's now a dad. the dinner was in Rego Park and the train ride took forever but seeing the new baby was worth it. there were a ton of little kids at the dinner (i guess that age group is really starting to pop them out) and it totally made me feel my maternal instinct kick in and want a baby. i can't wait to have 1 of my own (although i'm not looking forward to the birthing part).

after dinner i got back to Brooklyn and had every intention of just spending the night in, but then i got a call from Pal who was having a housewarming for their new apartment on St. Marks. i haven't seen Pal since her engagement about a year ago. however, i was still going to skip out on the party except she texted me that DougLife was also there. i haven't seen DougLife since i moved out of Hoboken in 2006. after i heard that, i had to go and see them.

i've never seen an apartment on St. Marks. her place is on my favorite block between 3rd and 2nd Ave. it's kind of small and it's definitely ironic that only after she's become engaged is when she and her fiance get a roommate to live w/. however, while she's definitely changed and grown since the last time i saw her, there are some things that never change. she made me the most delicious drink called Orange Crush (1/2 a fresh squeezed orange, triple sec and rum, but otherwise i'm not sure what else is in there) and got very wasted herself. that's more like the Pal i know. an interesting part of the night was when we were all on the rooftop. i was talking to DougLife when he proceeded to inform me that there was a man in the building next door who was walking around his apartment in speedo underwear. of course i immediately turned around to see. the guy was pretty physically fit but the black teeny-eeny-bikini underwear he had on, along w/his curly longish hair made him look like eurotrash gigolos. it also didn't help that he had a zebra-print rug on the floor of his apartment. since DougLife and i were so interested in the scene, soon the whole party had moved over to look into the guy's window. and the 1 of the very gay members of the party started to cat-call and soon we all were. o well, that's what you get for walking around you apartment in just your underwear and the window shades up.

once the party dwindled DougLife and i went to Bull McCabe's to have a few more drinks and do some more catching up. he's really moving forward in his life, but still the same old hilarious teddy bear he always was. seeing him and Pal really brought me back to those Pressler & Pressler and Hoboken days. we even called Bligh that night out of nostalgia.

sometimes, i really miss those days.