the older men in my life

every once in a while i get a glimpse of what life out of school would be like. it reminds me of the days of yore when i could go out and enjoy the luxuries of restaurants and drinks in manhattan bars. man that feels like ages ago.

i met up w/JCrew for dinner and drinks at South Street Seaport. i know there are tons of bars and restaurants in that area, but, for the life of me, i really couldn't name any. i googled a bunch of places and found an interesting bar called Nelson Blue. it's an Australian bar altho i wouldn't really be able to tell you about that b/c the only indication the bar's Australian is with regards to the good it serves and we didn't try any of it. we stayed for 2 drinks and then moved on to have dinner at Stella Maris. i def recommend this place for the summer b/c it's off the main area of the seaport so not too many tourists are running around and the setting is small and intimate with large glass doors they leave open so you have the feel of the summer. if i didn't know JCrew since high school it would've been a perfect date (especially since he paid-yes, i still get impressed by that. word of advice: if you want to sweep a girl off her feet, do not ask her to go dutch with you. it just feels tacky). we had a bottle of wine and the food was really good (focus on seafood) and the service is impeccable-that kind of classy attentiveness you should expect from a small restaurant.

now let's compare this with my dinner with Oppa which happened a few days later. Oppa just bought an apartment in Jersey City and we decided we wanted to go out for cheap dinner and opted for somewhere in Chinatown. however, the only places i really like to eat at in Chinatown are all noodleshops. somehow, i didn't think that's what Oppa wanted so i called Snoopy for recommendations. we walked to Bowery from the WTC, and kept going from place to place until we finally found the place Snoopy recommended. did i mention that the whole the time this was happening Oppa had a cast on his leg? and it was brutally hot out. yea, my bad.

when we finished dinner, it started to rain and we were scurrying from awning to awning until we got to the subway and i directed him how to get him. and i paid for dinner. it was such the opposite of romantic but super low-key and chill. ironic how contrastingly different the experiences can be...

my favorite uncle X 3

in a historic moment, my 3 favorite uncles happened to all be in the U.S. at the exact same time. it's quite a mommentous occassion. G moved to Hong Kong at least 12 yrs ago (he's had 3 kids-i believe the oldest is 12 or 13 by now); P had moved to Singapore for a while, got married and apparently is living in China now; and T has always been in the states, hovering between NY and NJ but now he's moving to Hong Kong as well. i haven't seen all 3 of them together in probably 5 or 6 yrs, so when i heard they were all home in Princeton, NJ for a BBQ at my great-aunt's house, i had to go.

it was a family reunion of epic proportions. these guys watched me grow up and held me as a baby and now they have babies of their own (well G and T do, P still enjoys his lack swinging married life i think). it was kind of weird to see them all being dads-being kind of stern with the kids by yelling at them to not eat in the living room, stop yelling, stop running around. it's such a difference from back in the day when they were just uncles to me-they would be running around with me, swinging me around, giving me piggy backs. it was so fun.

however, the trade-off is pretty worth it b/c their kids are so cute. honestly, i'll prob miss my new baby cousin E the most b/c he looks just like uncle T when he was a baby, just a bigger version. and he's so cute and adorable! his mom's definitely trained him to take pictures b/c she loves photographing him so that in every pic he's either smiling directly at the camera or looking right at you with that adorable wide-eyed look. so cute!!

being around all the kids made me feel my internal clock ticking a little. i want a baby E too! (altho he does have a ginormous head, so maybe i should rethink trying to birth one just like him.)

Candyland

i recently got to go to Candyland [really, just an apartment party at Feil but for some reason, the hosts decided to lay a candy trail from the 3 elevators to their apartment-it was very confusing but cute].

Coleslaw and i got to the party and immediately jumped into a game of beer pong. and then the incredible happened: we won 3 games in a row. we were on fire!it seemed the more shots of tequila Coleslaw took, the better she got. it just goes to prove the old adage: the drunker you are, the better you play beer pong. or at least to a point. because then you just hit a wall and it's all downhill from there.

after Coleslaw and I were dethroned from our beer pong status, the rest of the party was typical of every house party. for some reason, i'm always the observer in these scenarios and rarely the person actually engaged in all of it. so i stood at the side and watched as ppl started to work there games and try for the sometimes-elusive end-of-the-night hook-up. it's always a fun dance to watch.
eventually ppl started to make their way home and Frank and i went outside for some air. while there we met a guy and a girl (the guy was a 1L) who were looking for recommendations for going out (even tho it was pouring rain at the time). i wasn't really involved in the convo b/c i was on the phone, but i was in no mood to go out to a bar at that point so i told Frank i was going up to 4A to meet CabbagePatch. the look on Frank's face was so disappointed. i think he wanted me out as a wingman so he could get w/the girl. sorry Frank...

you take the subway too?

life seems overly dramatic lately. i think we all need to calm down a little. realize that it's never the end of the world. and yea, things may sometimes feel overwhelming, in terms of the big picture, what we go through is nothing. and in some degree, we always have to take some responsibility for what happens to us. and then you can only look to yourself.

been overwhelmed w/work lately (2 assignments due w/in a day of each other. blows). and of course, i've been dedicating days to finishing the assignments, but that doesn't mean i don't procrastinate. since i can't justify going out when i'm supposed to be doing work, i end up watching movies. saw Harold and Kumar 2: Escape from Guantanamo Bay. totally what i expected (sex, fart, and stoner jokes-except they kill Doogie Howser. what's up w/that?). and there were definitely some great one-liners:

Zip it Hello Kitty.-i'm totes gonna call some other asian HelloKitty. new nickname for the blog? i think so.
I'm gonna rock out w/my cock out. You're gonna jam out w/your clam out.-Even better b/c Doogie Howser said it.

however, the best part of the movie is when Kumar recites "his" dorky math poem: The Square Root of Three.

I fear that I will always be
A lonely number like root three

The three is all that’s good and right,
Why must my three keep out of sight
Beneath the vicious square root sign,
I wish instead I were a nine

For nine could thwart this evil trick,
with just some quick arithmetic

I know I’ll never see the sun, as 1.7321
Such is my reality, a sad irrationality

When hark! What is this I see,
Another square root of a three

Has quietly come waltzing by,
Together now we multiply
To form a number we prefer,
Rejoicing as an integer

We break free from our mortal bonds
And with the wave of magic wands

Our square root signs become unglued
And love for me has been renewed

-David Feinberg

apparently, the poem's real. however, it's debatable as to who the real David Feinberg is. there seems to be 3 possibilities:
1.he's a high school classmate of the makers of the movie who later went on to MIT
2.he's an author who died in 1994 from AIDS.
3.he's a comp sci homeroom teacher somewhere.
whatevs, the poem rocks.

speaking of dorky and adorable, i went to Merkato 55 for Debs' birthday dinner. was interested in checking this place out, altho i didn't hear good things. it's in the Meatpacking District of Little West 12th which i hate. but Debs works close to there and it was her choice. the food's supposed to be Ethiopian. eh...that's debatable. however, it def has some roots in Ethiopian food. but super-classy, super-trendy Ethiopian food.we started w/apps of the African Breads (it's got a bunch of options: my fave was the cornbread-ish one. totes delish) and Apricot Chutney. we also got Beef Kifto Tartar. definitely not what you would think of as tartar. it's more like grilled small cubes of beef in a flavorful gravy-like sauce. it was good, just unexpected. i went for the staple Spicy ChickenDoro Wat, which is a whole chicken drumstick and thigh in a pot. the meat was super tender but that was about it. and i'm not a big fan of Ethiopian bread (it's like a mix of a crepe and pancake). Debs got the Chickpea Dumplings and that was amazing. totally not what you would expect but very flavorful and delish.

on the way home, i took the A train back to Brooklyn. and who did i see on the subway? Finch from American Pie or, if you know his real name, wink wink to you DRC, Eddie Kaye Thomas. i couldn't really believe it, but there he was. and i prob looked like a real creeper b/c i kept looking at him b/c i just couldn't believe he was taking the subway. i get so easily star struck.

off the cuff...

ok, i'm def a little drunk. whatevs, it happens.

but i still watched legit Gossip Girl. even if i spilled a glass of wine. yea, that 's right. i did that. what what?!?!

ok so i totally planned to take it slow, b/c i have 2 writing assignments due by the end of the week. it blows. whatevs. that's the way things work out.

i love how the registrar emailed today during my 9:00 A.M. class to tell me i got off the wait-list [altho the list's been closed since 9/3]. and they told me i gotta make a decision ASAP. i emailed them asking if i could have until Thursday (the class is on Tuesday and i've already missed 2) and they said "no" flat out. i asked if i could enroll now and drop if need be in 2 days. they said "no." so i said fine, enroll me but since the student webcourse program (WebAdvisor) which has my schedule and credits for this semester is down, i asked to drop my extraneous course later this week. NO. those bastards. not only was the school program down but they said i had to drop the extraneous class TODAY.

whatevs. fine. i passed the MPRE. i think i'm ok w/tests. um...but don't quote me on that.

phew...it took me forever to write this entry w/o any typos. so hard.

well, since you made the effort...

4th of July this year was pretty mellow but at the same time had that at-home appeal. i've never been that much of a fireworks fan but Coleslaw, Egg, She and i decided to camp out at Brooklyn Bridge Park and watch the fireworks. Egg was really worried about getting a good spot before the park got full and wanted to go camp out ASAP but i was starving so we decided to travel to Chinatown and grab some lunch. since i've never taken the F from Brooklyn Heights to Chinatown i called up Snoopy (my Chinatown guru since he grew up there and still lives there-or did until recently) who told us we can take it to East Broadway, and of course, invited him to lunch as well.

when it comes to Snoopy and eating in Chinatown he always opts for New Malaysia. in all honesty, yea, the food's good, but there are cheaper places in Chinatown. but since Egg and Coleslaw had never been there before, i didn't mind going. everyone who eats w/Snoopy's gotta be inducted into the New Malaysia club (Snoopy always wants to eat there. every time). after lunch, Snoopy decided to head to BBP w/us and, over Coleslaw's protests, we walked back across the Manhattan Bridge.

i'm so easily convinced sometimes. i, like Coleslaw, didn't really want to walk across the bridge (yes, i'm that lazy). however, when Snoopy mentioned we could see the Waterfalls, my immediate response was "really??" but in that excited-little-kid-someone's-mentioned-candy kind of way. as soon as Coleslaw heard that, she knew protesting was futile and started trudging along the way. my bad.

we ended up being at BBP super early and found a decent spot. word of advice: BBP doesn't get filled up until 7:30 at the earliest. it was a good picnic where we would make trips to Peas and Pickles for beers and snacks and at 1 pt, even pizza. it drizzled on and off which didn't really affect the whole event except for at the end when it started drizzling steadily for the last 30 mins. i was freezing. luckily, Coleslaw, like the good mama bear she is, had an extra hoodie for me to wear on the way home.

o, and as for the title of this post, those of you that were there know what it means. since you made the effort...

let's go Mets!

alright, i admit it. i'm not that much of a baseball fan. i find it miserably boring to watch on tv. however, somewhat ironically, i love watching baseball games live. and thanks to Coleslaw, i got to watch the Mets play against the Colorado Rockies.

before heading over to the game, Egg, She and i checked out Bastille Day on Smith Street. apparently it's been going on every year but i never knew. i also didn't know that the event centers around a petanque tournament. i'm not really sure about the game but it looks like bocce to me, except w/really heavy metal balls. the whole event really only takes place on about 3-4 blocks of Smith Street, but w/the nice weather and being able to drink outside and eat food put out by the surrounding restaurants is pretty nice. unfortunately, i could only stay an hour and i didn't eat or drink anything b/c i had to save my money for the stadium hotdogs and beer.

ahh...beers, hotdogs, popcorn and peanuts. all my favorites. if only they weren't so reedonkulously expensive!! we splurged on beer and hotdogs ( ok really, just 2 beers and 1 hotdog each). my tummy was still craving more unhealthy stadium food but i was tapped out. luckily for me, the guys sitting next to us had bought a bag of peanuts (for $8!!) and kept offering them to us. i'm not ashamed to say that i took it w/zeal. they were deliciously salty and yummy and went perfectly w/my beer.

QUESTION

which one's worse?

Scenario 1: you're interested in someone. you tell X that, yea, you think Boy's kind of cute but it's just a crush, nothing serious is going on yet. the next time you're out with X, you notice Boy flirting with X and ultimately, even tho she knows you're kind of interested, she ends up hooking up with him.

A. Boy doesn't belong to you, you're not dating him, you haven't even come close to it.

B. Boy hit on X, she didn't hit on him.

C. Boy and X are both single and obviously ready to mingle.


Scenario 2: you've hooked up with someone. you tell Y that you've hooked up with Boy. on a night you're not there, Boy starts flirting with Y. altho Y has no interest in Boy, she likes the flirting. she doesn't do anything with Boy but continues encouraging situations where Boy will continue to hit on her and tell her he likes her.

A. Boy hit on Y, she didn't hit on him.

B. you're never going to date Boy, you don't like him that much.

C. you know Y; she would never actually let anything happen between her and Boy.

D. technically both Y and Boy are single.


maybe i'm just overthinking things and neither situation's bad. or maybe they both are. i'm not sure. i don't know. i'm confused. i'm stumped.

what advice should i give her?