do you think it's really true?

legend has it that if you catch the bouquet at a wedding then you're supposed to be the next in line right? you think it's really true? i'm beginning to have my doubts based on how my love life's been going...

went to Debs' cousin's wedding, which itself is an incredulous situation. when Debs and i were kids she had a group of cousins who were all about 4+ yrs older than us or something like that. they were the cool kids that got me to watch Goonies for the 1st time and all that fun 80's stuff. there were 3 girls and 1 boy, the boy being the youngest. and now that we're all in our early 20's (honestly only Debs is in her early 20's) through early 30's, i can't believe it was that boy cousin who's the 1st to get married out of that bunch. but there i was, attending his wedding.

Debs and i are practically family since we grew up together so of course me and my fam attended the wedding. totally delish reception by the way. about the best spread and variety i've seen at any wedding, including 1 i attended that had caviar and vodka shot bar. even tho you should save yourself for the meal, they're always inevitably less yummy than the reception food. this is a wedding attendee rule to live by if you ask me. mmm, just thinking about it makes me want to eat an entire raw bar again. had 1 of the better family-attended wedding experiences since i, of course, sat at the kids table but this time the kids table was filled w/all ppl i knew (me and Debs and all the cousins) so it was just liking having a big group dinner together.

then came time to throw the bouquet.

Debs was hilarious b/c she was REALLY clamoring for it. i mean, she really wanted it. i decided to hang back w/Mini-Debs and Mini-me since they wanted the bouquet the least. in retrospect i should've seen how i was standing at the wrong place strategically. i was standing in a an almost directly straight line behind the bride. however, i'll justify my decision by saying the i was hiding behind a whole row of bride-wannabe-line backers. i felt like the protected quarterback in my little pocket. i ended up underestimating the bride tho, who, it turns out, is quite athletic and the groom was coaching her so she wouldn't throw the bouquet up too high and hit the chandelier. instead, she did an athletic straight bee-line throw that had such force that it penetrated my linebackers and out of sheer instinct my hands shot out to protect my face and i ended up catching the bouquet. Debs and all the cousins had the biggest laugh about this.

they also couldn't stop laughing when i had to participate w/a complete stranger to have him put the garter belt on in front of my parents.

no stop it! the tears...

SBA did a free ice-skating event last week at Prospect Park and it was just too good of an opportunity to pass up. i mean, free? like free, free? i'm there. although it had started to drizzle which then turned to flaky snow, which in turn made my hair go crazy, it was totally worth it to go.

i totally suck at ice skating but every time i go have visions of turning into a Dorothy Hamill-ish skater. it never happens. luckily for me Co-Chair was there and he was willing to go through the agonizing event of teaching me how to ice-skate again (the last time i was on ice-skates it was probably over 2 years ago). as Co-Chair hovered beside me as i unsteadily wobbled along, it occurred to me how not learning to ice-skate could end up being a perfect 1st date should such an occassion arise. Co-Chair had to hold my hand as i wobbled along and i suddenly felt like i was in a cheesy 80's movie w/the flaky snow falling all around us. altho i did sort of ruin the whole montage w/my random yelps and shrieks whenever i thought i might fall. and moving along slower than a snail's pace isn't very cute either. but yea, this not knowing how to ice-skate could really be advantageous if i should ever go on a ice-skating date. or date a hockey player.

after skating, DRC and i went back to my place so i could do something about my wet-dog looking 'do before heading over to Camp for Wifey's bday. i decided to just forgo the high maintenance 'do and just pull it up into a ponytail but there's still the problem of the bangs so i just clipped them up in an attempt to pull off that buoffant hairdo that all the girls like wearing right now. instead i got told by Egg i looked like i belonged in a 50's music video, very Weezer's Buddy Holly era.

we had a couple of glasses of wine at my place before going out where i had a few Jack and Cokes while we played Scrabble and, apparently, Wifey was getting rocked. i guess ppl did the obligatory bday shots for her and she was drunk off her ass. she later told me she pretty much blacked out the rest of the night. after playing my Scrabble game i've come to hate that stupid Scrabulous application on Facebook b/c Adidas kept using reedonkulous 2 letter words and justifying them by saying it was acceptable on Scrabulous.

we finished up drinks and then headed back to Feil. we were separated into 2 camps and by the time my camp showed up in front of Feil we were greeted by the 1st camp b/c apparently Wifey had locked herself out. i have Prez my key to get his snowboard while we all hovered outside for the smokers and then headed upstairs where it turned out Prez wasn't b/c he was up on the 21st floor. i swear he must be dating someone up there b/c he's always there. finally he showed up and just in a nick of time b/c Adidas was wrangling w/Egg to let him into his apartment b/c he had to pee. as always happens when we start drinking at home, the night turned into Rock, Paper, Scissors drinking games but in korean. Egg is always on fire in that game (which i know he's secretly proud of) and eventually we got a match going w/Horse representing Korea and Egg representing the US (whiteys). whiteys lost.
while all this was going on, Wifey had disappeared into the bathroom for a significant amount of time only to reappear and kick us all out of the apartment! she kept pushing Horse to get his laundry from downstairs and leave (he doesn't live in Feil). we moved over to Egg's, where Wifey followed us to and then she was harassing Horse saying he lied to her and to hurry up and get his laundry and go. eventually she went back into our apartment and i assumed she passed out. the rest of my night was hazy and i don't remember exactly how it all ended but i do remember getting back to my apartment, making some food and then promptly passing out before i even ate it.

the next morning i get a phone call from Egg waking me up at 1:30 pm. i ignored it and tried to get back to sleep but it was a lost cause b/c soon-after there was a knocking on my door. it was Wifey. and then i heard 1 of the funniest stories of my life:
however, i can't share this story w/you b/c Wifey has sworn all of us to secrecy. suffice it to say tho that it's 1 of the funniest stories i've heard and if i see you around i'll probably get around to telling you it anyways, altho it'll be edited for the protection of the persons involved. i can only reveal it obviously involved drunkeness, a little throwing up, and some missing articles of clothing.

so when Wifey tells me this story i'm already rolling on the floor w/laughter. 30 minutes later Egg calls me to recount the story and i've literally got tears in my eyes. it's the kind of story you never get tired of hearing/telling b/c it's that funny. even right now i can feel a snicker making its way out...

the tea tea dance aka HAA-LLO

who's just been really really lazy lately? that'd be me! aish...w/school and all the events going on, even when i've had down-time all i really want to do is veg out and not use my brain at all...but now entries have been piling up and i must get to them or else i'll never get up to date.

i finally went to dim sum w/KimChi which we'd been talking about doing since i met her November of last year but our schedules never worked out until beginning of January. we finally met up and we went to, where else? Jing Fong for dim sum brunch. i invited Snoopy since he likes the skinny korean girls but KimChi is so adorable and fun. i've got to learn that if i hang out w/Snoopy too much i'm gonna turn into a giant fatty. he orders so much food! it wouldn't be so bad except for the fact that he barely eats any of it! argh...that is so frustrating. he just went into a frenzy at Jing Fong and there were us 3 girls and him. aish...however, the conversation was pretty interesting since i haven't seen KimChi since the 1st time i'd met her. KimChi's korean but learned to speak mandarin chinese which is why we hit it off so quickly. we both wanted someone to practice mandarin w/. KimChi's friend turned to me and asked me:

"how do you say 'hello' in chinese?"

this question always makes me smile b/c in all honesty, yes, there's the "ni hao ma?" that everyone knows, but most chinese ppl don't greet each other w/that except for when you're greeted by salespeople upon entering a retail store/restaurant. for the most part ppl who speak chinese greet each other by saying "hello". i told Olives that and she didn't believe me! just like korean has "aneonhaseo" (i'm spelling that phonetically so don't kill me), she wanted to know what was the chinese equivalent. i kept on insisting that "hello" or "hi" was the equivalent but she didn't think so, so i thought really hard and came up w/this answer:

"HAA-LLO".

yep, that really fobby, mispronunciation of "hello" you often hear FOBs say b/c that's 1 of the few english words they know. and it's true, when i travelled in Taipei i would get a lot of "hallos". and the pronunciation's always dragged out for some reason. so i said it Olives and even as i heard myself say it i started to laugh and so did she. i don't know why it was so funny.

afterwards, KimChi was yearning for some good boba milk tea so we went to Tea-riffic (i'm not joking, that was the name or at least that's what it's gonna be called for this month). i think Snoopy mentioned this place is run by the same ppl who run St. Alps on E.9th and you can tell. the menu's pretty identical. of course, even tho we'd just finished eating dim sum and were stuffed, Snoopy ordered toast w/crushed peanuts and condensed milk. now, when you hear an order like that you would think it'd be presented like peanut butter & jelly right? layered 1 on top of the other? nope. it's presented by smearing 1 diagnol portion of the toast w/peanut butter and the other diagnol portion w/condensed milk butter. although KimChi complained about the condensed milk butter smelling like baby powder, we all ate some and it was admittedly good.

i split up w/them after this and went to go catch up w/Debs who's just come back from visiting her dad in Beijing. we ended up meeting at St. Alps...for more tea. aish. so since i'd woken up that day i'd had meals and meetings centered around tea. i'm just figuring that tea's good for you so it can't hurt for me to drink so much, right? i did order another piece of toast, albeit w/coconut butter this time. it was heavenly delicious and all these tea shops use that big fat asian toast that reminds me of spending summers at my grandma's in Taipei. while at St. Alps i went to use the restroom (hello?! 1 bathroom for the whole cafe?!) and had to wait in line. the guy to go next was doing the pee pee dance hard core. i was secretly laughing to myself and waiting until he got into the bathroom before i discussed w/the other ppl about how funny that was, when he ended up mentioning it himself. it was actually quite endearing.

Debs and i caught up on all the love gossip in her life (since she's never w/o it-girl's got game). she'd gone to LA for her company's christmas party (yes they flew them out to LA) and had met a man there. they had their fling and she fleetingly mentioned he should come out to NYC and visit her sometime and man went and booked a ticket the next week! see, i told you she's got game. she's pretty excited about this guy but lamenting the long distance relationship thing. i used to be a strong advocate against it but as we've gotten older, i admit that as long as the 2 of you are working (not in school) there really shouldn't be a problem. o yea, and there is 1 more requirement: you've got to be living in LA, NYC, Boston or D.C. otherwise it's a no-go. i pick those cities b/c there are always flight deals between LA and NYC and Boston and D.C. are a stone's throw away from NYC. any other city is just preposterous. i told Debs this theory and she couldn't stop laughing. "what about Chicago?" she asked. puh-lease. Chi-town, Dallas, Denver?whatever.

i was exhausted after all these outings and was planning a night in when KimChi and Snoopy called about going to Kenka for more food and drinks. i always have a soft spot for Kenka so i agreed and since i was out i decided to go to Chase Honeycup's bday party at 205 Club as well. Kenka was fun (and very filling). we decided to head over to LES towards Chase's bday party and while walking i fell. i mean, i took a massive digger. no no, it wasn't b/c i was wasted. instead me feet got tripped up on my jeans. i swear! so that was embarassing...

we only stopped by Chase's for a minute altho i was impressed w/how Snoopy finessed the line. there was a line to get into 205 Club (why? i have no idea. it wasn't even that packed). i told the doorman we were there for Chase's bday but that didn't work. just as me, KimChi and Olives were heading towards the back of the line, Snoopy talks to the doorman again saying how we're 3 girls etc. and the guy let's us in! smooth Snoopy. i can tell you've done this before.

we only stayed for a minute before heading over to Crime Scene for Snoopy's friends bday party. the place was pretty empty when we got there but they were playing good music to dance to so we all just let loose and danced. the place started to fill up more but then it felt like jackals circling their prey when KimChi, Olives and i danced together. yuck. tho i did meet some really cute asian twins. that's the 2nd set this year! i never thought they existed and now they're just popping out of the woodwork! albeit they were a little short. it turned out it was their birthday.

o, i forgot to mention. after i'd split up w/KimChi, Olives and Snoopy in Chinatown, they'd gone into Aji Ichiban to look at snacks and candy. when they walked in the salesperson greeted them w/a, you guessed it, "haa-llo"

Halal Heaven

there are certain people who read this blog who are definitely no longer a part of my life, by their own volition. whether it's a childhood girl friend i had a falling out w/, an ex-boyfriend, or the ex-girlfriend of a close friend, i'm just completely baffled why they bother to read this at all when they don't care enough to be in my life or be my friend (in the case of the ex-girlfriend of a close friend i know she only reads this b/c she's trying to find out what's going on in her ex-boyfriend/my friend's life, so that makes sense, altho it's a little stalker-y). i mean, these are active cutters here, ppl who made an active choice to cut me out, so why do you care to even read the contents of this blog? friends i understand (hi guys!) but frenemies (i know, that term's suppposed to be used for ppl who are "technically" friends but do bad stuff to you, but i'm changing it to mean ppl you were once friends w/but no longer are)? are you reading this to see if i died (tho the mechanics of being able to write that would be an existential question); or maybe to see if i got fat? or to see pics of something bad befalling me? b/c let me just save you the trouble, obviously, since it's my blog, you won't be seeing any of that (except maybe the fat part, but if i stopped posting pictures then ha!).

ok that's the end of my rant. it was just bugging me.

met up w/Egg to have brunch at Lobo which is rapidly becoming my favorite brunch spot aside from Bar Tabac. it's perfect for when i'm super-hungry and in the mood for something flavorful since it's mexican brunch. Egg got the Huevoes Rancheros (which, based on my last entry about Lobo, is not my favorite, something about the sauce, or b/c i was so hungover that day) and i got his Jalapeno Grits and Eggs. i just realized we essentially reversed orders since out last brunch at Lobo together. what a coinkee-dink. the person who was smart tho was She who ordered a chalupa? chimichanga? aish, i can't remember. but it was GINORMOUS. and delicious w/all my favorite elements of mexican food: rice, check; tomatoes, check; sour cream, check; guacamole, check; pollo, check; cheese, check; salsa, check. YEA!!!

after that monster of a meal i putted around and did work before getting ready to go to Rewind for VicePrez's birthday party. lucky for me, i'd called Prez before to see if he was going and he offered to drive me which was much needed b/c i was still recovering from the mini-plague. i'd called Snoopy and Oppa to meet me there and then arrived late. how typical. i swear, my timing since moving to NY has really been thrown off. i used to be so punctual.

it was interesting travelling btwn BLS friends, Oppa and his friends and Snoopy and his friends. i guess the venue and event wasn't so conducive to everybody meshing b/c they didn't really mesh at all, although that can happen when ppl meet but have their own posse to hang out w/. regardless, had a great time dancing and drinking (i was so korean, i drank Scotch on the rocks b/c of my cough) and hanging w/everyone. i was the hostess-with-the-mostest. ok, that's not really true, i just wanted to use the term. i also got to see Mentee at the party and she was all dressed up, looking fine and getting her swerve on! girl has wild child buried in her that gets hidden under the layers of BLS stress. at 1 point i was dancing sandwiched between Buddy and Prez and i could swear i looked over and saw Oppa shaking his head in a "what is my tongsen doing" way.

Prez wanted to go to the famous halal cart on 53rd and 6th afterwards for food so i said "bye" to Oppa and Snoopy and VicePrez and we all piled into the car. after having the typical 2:30 am conversations in the car, we got to the cart and waited in line. i admit, i've never been to the 53rd and 6th halal cart. my bad. i know it's a NYC institution. and this may be blasphemous but i thought it was just ok. i mean, for 3 am it's delicious but in general? eh. i know, i'm such a heretic.

i did realize that night tho, that some ppl just walk in the light. just as i got to the front of the line, i look over to my left and who do i see but Oppa? i'm totally schocked and say "hi" and he says how perfect this is b/c he'd been looking to try and cut someone on line and here i was at the front. essentially he didn't have to wait on line for food. why is it that i'm always the "waiter" while ppl like Oppa seem to always be the "cutter"? some ppl just walk in the light i guess...

who's a cockblocker?

aish. i didn't start 2008 that greatly considering i got sick on the night of the 1st and have been battling w/an annoying and persistent cough. blech.

however, that aside, NYE was a totally different experience. the 31st started off good and chill. i took Cousin to Bar Tabac, my favorite brunch spot (i always get the Egg Norvegienne). we just sat and talked and caught up, which we hadn't done since her visit to the east coast. Cousin had plans to eat dinner w/friends at Three of Cups but i opted out due to financial reasons plus i wanted to rest up for the big event.

for NYE i went to a party at PMT Dance Hall thrown by 1 of Cousin's friend's friend. this is such a smart idea: the guy rented out PMT Dance Hall and bought a ton of standard booze and beer, hired a dj, had about 6 friends bartend w/a giant tip jar, and charged $35 per person. you know he made bank. the event overall was fun, tho nothing overly memorable, but for $35 who really cares? i think i'd have been pissed if i'd spent the standard $150-$200 and nothing great happened. there were some highlights tho:

1. Snoopy was completely wasted by the time he showed up. he'd gone to a pre-party and just got completely trashed. he spent most of the night leaning against the wall w/all these girls (that he knew) going up to him and taking posey-pics w/him. it was pretty funny.

2. Boop was just as trashed as Snoopy. turns out when she drinks she turns into a dance machine. she kept dancing just about the whole night. at 1 point she started to dance up on me and went to dip down for a stripper move but leaned back a little too far and (my bad) i couldn't support her weight and she completely fell on her ass. poor Boop... but as long as she had fun that's all that matters.

3. Cousin totally made out w/some random guy. yea, that's right. my Cousin, who's visiting from Cali, gets ass on NYE while i, who lives here, doesn't. go figure. it was disarming to see Cousin randomly hook up b/c she's talking about stringent high standards for guys and how she doesn't want to handle all the baggage that goes w/boys. but i guess she's human after all...

eventually everyone made moves to leave and move on to the next venue. it took forever to get the whole crew together and moving. eventually Snoopy and i got in a cab w/his very drunk friend Weeeeeeee. haha, i have so much fun saying that name. it's like a party! we headed over to Chinatown for some much needed food (i hadn't eaten dinner). i was so hungry that i ate my beef noodle soup, part of Snoopy's beef w/egg sauce on rice, party of Barishnokov's beef and tomato on rice, and part of Boop's beef w/egg sauce on rice. i was hungry. what what?! afterwards, like the gentelmen they are, Snoopy, Barishnokov and Snoopy's cousin (he's not really worth a nickname b/c he lives in Philly so i'll probably never see him again, but if i was gonna give him 1 it'd probably be "Handsy"-ahem) waited w/me until i got a cab. this is only the 2nd time this has happened to me, but i had to have 3 cabs refuse to take me to Brooklyn Heights before i got lucky w/the 4th cab. even tho it's completely illegal that cabs do that, what can you really do? you barely have time to look at their face let alone remember their ID number so there's really no way for them to get in trouble (aside from a sting). i'm pretty sure it was the waiting for 20 mins outside in the windy cold in a dress w/no tights/stockings on that pushed me over the edge into sickness.

and where was Cousin during all this? she didn't come home w/me or w/that random guy. but she did spend the night at a boy's house...

the next night went to Peking Duck House for Cousin's farewell dinner. it was her choice to pick this restaurant b/c she's such a fan of the food. i gotta admit, it is pretty good altho service was pretty shoddy. we were forced to order the prix-fixed menu ($35 per person, w/tip for 6 ppl=$50 per person) and since we were 6 ppl and their menu only goes up to 5, we had to order 2 sets of the menu for 3. that ended up being 2 Peking ducks (which is delicious but so much), 3 entrees (we got the mayo jumbo shrimp, my favorite childhood dish; crispy fish; and lobster), and a fried rice. it was an insane amount of food. sucked that i was starting to feel a little body-achey and headachey but overall the meal was delicious. Cousin had her international flight to Hong Kong the next morning at 9 am and since she's a notorious oversleeper she wanted everyone to go see AVP w/her on the start of her all-nighter before her flight but since i was starting to feel truly ill and she was staying at my place i scrapped the idea. plus i definitely didn't want to spend $11 for a movie i didn't want to see and would be uncomfortable watching b/c i was sick. instead i set her up w/asian soap operas to watch through the night while i popped Tylenol for my fever and slept.

this is my dance space, that is your dance space

i had 2 things happen today that i've realized are on my extensive list of pet peeves:

1. so this 1 isn't actually a pet peeve but i'm always disturbed when i have dreams that involve real ppl that i know. this morning i had a dream involving Anime, Cousin, and Cindy. considering i haven't seen Anime or Cindy in a while (w/Cindy it's been years w/Anime it's rounding out 6 mths probably) dreams involving real ppl always make me ponder for an hour after i wake up about what it all means and why i would be having a dream involving them. what does it all mean?!

2. this is an actual pet peeve: i hate it when someone texts me in such a way that forces me to have to contact them later. for instance, i got a text today telling me to go to Pacha. then it said call me later for details. uh hello? couldn't you just text me the relevant info? why couldn't the text have said Pacha, the address and time and if they were curious if i was going, it could've ended w/a simple "you coming?". it's totally unnecessary to make me call you to get "more details". messages like that annoy me for 2-fold reasons. not only b/c you're trying to make me contact you when you're the 1 who's (half-assedly) contacting me and also b/c it comes out totally insincere and mass-textish. needless to say, i didn't go.

and then let's discuss the reedonkulous-ness of the newest development in my apartheid apartment. i think i've gotten used to the weird reedonkulous-ness to the point that it doesn't phase me anymore but instead find it mildly entertaining. tho i still love bitching about it. ok, so as if it wasn't already apparent that discord exists in our living arrangement, the kitchen acts as a visual display. prior to winter break there was already 2 coffee makers and then my little corner which includes a rice cooker (thanks Debs!) and a coffee grinder. now after winter break, we have 3 coffee makers and 2 rice cookers. hmm, do you think it shows that we don't get along?

Cousin in Manhattan

over christmas break Cousin came to visit from LA. altho i'd planned to stay home and just chill out until after NYE, that plan flew out the door once Cousin got here b/c there were just too many things to be done in NYC and Cousin needed a place to stay. her usual abodes had all been occupied/taken/were too inconvenient (1 was in Queens, the other was already hosting somebody and the last had recently gotten a girlfriend which meant Cousin could only stay over on a rotating schedule. phew that's complicated).

it was all fine and dandy tho b/c Stinky was visiting NYC w/her new Aussie boyfriend so i was required to be back in the city regardless. came into the city w/the family and all the kids got haircuts (including me. it's a little high maintenance but the cut was very necessary considering how long it's been since my last 1) before the fam and i had dim sum at Jing Fong. now how ironic is this? Stinky and the girls were also gonna be getting dim sum and since i've only taken them to Jing Fong i knew they would be going there. Cousin also had friends going out to dim sum and i knew, in my heart of hearts, that Jing Fong would be where they would be going too. and we all sort of converged there all around the same time. i just missed Stinky and the girls (they were leaving when we were sitting) and Cousin's friends were waiting at the same time we were and sat only a little before us. when it comes to dim sum Chinatown is just as a small as ktown at 3 am.

after brunch i went to South Street Seaport to meet up w/Stinky and Bubby and Cousin's crew all came along in tow since they didn't really have any plans either. we went to Jeremy's Ale House for quiet drinks. honestly, not really a fan of this place. such a local dive. bras flung everywhere, not much in terms of ambience, and when we went to go order beers, they were pretty much out of everything but would wait to let us know until after we'd ordered. and to top it all off, Bubby and i got Yuengling and it was flat. how whack is that? regardless it was good to sit down and catch up w/Stinky who hasn't been to town since she moved back from Australia.

Cousin got tipsy from 1 cup of cider and considering she hadn't really slept the night before, she wanted to lay down for a nap but i still had loads to chat w/the girls so she went over to Snoopy's (conveniently located in Chinatown) while i went over to Heartland Brewery for more beers. a little disappointed that the Heartland at South Street Seaport doesn't have pumpkin ale (my favorite) but we totally snacked out on nachos and deep fried dill pickle spears. sounds weird right? it's hard to explain but i thoroughly enjoyed them altho they definitely must be eaten hot. the batter's sort of like boardwalk onion ring batter which is what makes it yummy. and they do taste exactly like they sound but somehow it's still good.

went to Snoopy's afterwards to pick up Cousin but she was totally passed out. instead i got introduced to playing Wario Ware on Wii. so much fun. Snoopy advised me it's even more fun to play when drinking. i'm sure it is just based on how fun it was when we were sober. can't wait...

once Cousin woke up we went for dinner before heading over to 40/40 Club to watch the Celtics vs. Lakers game. aish. i know it's technically a sports lounge but only ballers would go there to watch the game. we had a decent number of ppl so we got a private room to watch the game which was real comfy but once again, it was to watch sports, not club. it was kind of surreal.

dinner w/my mentee

after what i saw last night, i figure i better write about the quiet and endearing dinner i had w/my mentee before i write a post about my observations from last night's birthday party at Rewind.

APALSA has a tradition of assigning mentors to 1Ls who join the student org. it's a great way to meet new ppl who aren't 1Ls and to have someone to ask questions to and help guide you along the way. sometimes they work out great, as w/me and Unnie who are friends beyond the mentor-mentee relationship. then there's relationships like Wifey and Presidente. it's very hit or miss.

i picked my mentee b/c of Buddy and since we both speak mandarin which i love since i never get to practice. but, w/being on e-board this year and working for half of 1st semester and school i wasn't doing a good job of meeting up w/Mentee. finally we got our act together and met for dinner. we ended up walking along Smith Street and since she'd studied abroad in France we passed 1 of the many french bistros and decided to stop in for food at Provence en Boite. it wasn't that packed and had a very adorable and neighborhood bistro feel to it w/the small wooden tables and rustic decor. the menu was pretty limited in choices but covered the basics for a dinner menu and everything had a definite french flavor or flair. Mentee ended up getting the rabbit and polenta whereas i stuck w/steak frites (what?! i like fries and steak ok?). anyways, the food was really good altho nothing spectacular but the whole point was really to chat w/Mentee. i get the impression she doesn't really need me to guide her, she's motivated and obviously intelligent (she did go to an all-girls college like moi, albeit Wellesley and not Smith). i answered a few of her questions and just shared a little bit of what i've learned since my 1L year and then we spent the rest of the time chatting in mandarin. yea! i love the practice.

the next task will be to get me, her, Snoopy and KimChi out for dim sum together. altho Snoopy speaks Cantonese not mandarin so maybe i won't ask him. but then again he lives so close to Jing Fong....

juuuust right aka i'm allergic

welcome to 2008! let's hope this year goes better than last year for me. and in the spirit of leaving the bad things behind: the after-exams party was the start of it all.

Egg and i made plans to go for drinks immediately after our Evidence finals (altho we had different professors, we both agreed we had the same problem: not enough time, too much info). Unnie and i ran into each other outside of BLS and since Egg got leewayed we went back to my place and drank baek seju until Egg and Goldilocks could meet us. once the crew was assembled we headed over to Gravy to get some food in us. Egg and i split some chili fries which i only now realize in retrospect was all i had to eat for the day. no wonder i got so hungover-sick the next day. altho Goldilocks only had an order of new england clam chowder (which looked so good-i'm such a sucker for chowders) and Unnie only had an appetizer order of mussels.

the dinner was a very interesting conversation. what if you could never achieve and orgasm? what if you were allergic to cum? would you ever let someone photograph you during sex? the topics were along this line but in relevant non-abstract ways. enough to make poor Egg blush. i learned a lot about my girls, particularly Goldilocks and her anatomy. heehee that girl always makes me laugh.

after dinner, Goldilocks went to her own party and Unnie, Egg, Co-Chair and i went on our way to Galway Hooker for the after-exams party. now, i didn't attend the party last year, but holy toledo! this is what i learned about the after-exams party: it's hook-up heaven. it makes sense: everyone's been stressed out for the past 2 or 3 weeks and now they can let loose and just do the whole devil-may-care attitude about it. but yep, lots of hook-ups going on and not just 1L slores either (that's not my term, someone else made it up).

DRC was there and she's always hilarious, particularly when Chase Honeycup is around. i've gotta be more careful about using that name in public b/c Chase is gonna wise up soon but i love it so much and it totally fits him. DRC kept introducing me as the BLS Gossip Girl and advising them of my blog and etc. shh!!!! it's supposed to be a secret! that's why ppl's names are anonymous (for the most part; should it be time that i change Brantley's name?) i got a Facebook message from DRC the next day where that concept finally dawned on her.

there was a mini-drama w/Co-Chair and a kissing couple that kind of dampened the night before Egg and i and a 1L headed over to Kunjip for some after drinks food. by that point i was starting to feel really wasted and couldn't drink any more. the pajeun just barely helped me to not throw up that night.