Get Me Some Gingko Biloba STAT!

i'm not usually a birthday party kind of person. i get really stressed out trying to plan bday parties, regardless if it's for a friend or for myself. the biggest stress to me is picking out a venue that fits everyone's tastes. the venue is the first step. and if you start out badly on the first step, you know it's only downhill from there.

i wasn't planning on having a bday party, but then Gecko asked me what i was doing because she would come to NYC for that weekend. concurrently when i learned of that information, i also got an invite to ChubbyBunny's birthday party. ChubbyBunny's bday is 2 weeks after mine but she decided to have it on the 23rd jointly with a friend. CB's bday invite, for the afternoon at Boat Basin Cafe, in conjunction with Gecko coming into town, spurred me to spontaneously decide to have a bday party.

before i could back out, i created a Facebook event and started researching venues. when making my FB event, i remembered another stressor of throwing a party: who to invite. FB makes inviting people super easy and convenient since almost everyone and their mothers are on FB now. however, 1st you have to deliberate whether you want to make the event public or private. public allows your guests to invite other people, which is great in case you forgot to invite someone, so i made it public. but since it's public, anyone you don't invite will be able to see it, should it come up in their news feed or if they happen to glance it while on an invited guest's profile, which can be super awkward (even if they never confront you about it). this was my 2nd deliberation. as i haphazardly checked off friends to invite, the biggest dilemma was those individuals who i'd met before, hung out with, but never really talk to if it wasn't for "Y" (the person who introduced us and whom I'm actually friends with). as i checked the box to invite "Y" i'd have to decide whether to invite that acquaintance whom I knew on FB but didn't really know. would they care if they weren't invited? would they want to come because "Y" was coming but didn't know if it would be ok because I hadn't invited them? i felt like my brain was going to explode.

once that was done, i returned to the difficult task of choosing a venue. when i thought back on my past bar/club experiences, i realized how limited my memory actually is. it was like as soon as i tried to actually access my Manhattan venue database, i completely drew a blank. instead, all i could remember were places that i clearly couldn't have a party e.g. Kenka.  then there were places that would be great venues if i and my friends were willing to throw down $300-$450 per bottle to reserve a table and deal with line hassles e.g. Cabana, Hiro, 230 Fifth, Gansevoort, etc. (plus i find Meatpacking slightly annoying to get to via subway). every venue i could think of had its drawbacks: the Park (can't reserve a table upstairs in the atrium), Circle (too Asian), PS450 (west side + midtown), Pianos (cover after 11 and super crowded), etc.

i also can't believe how many places i can't remember the name or location of. i would vaguely remember the "feel" of a place, or the people i was with, but most of the time i couldn't remember "why" I was there or "where" it was. there was 1 particular night when Gecko and i went out and attended W's bday party. Gecko remembered the venue for W's bday party and i couldn't except for some vague, hazy recollections. initially, neither of us could remember where we'd been earlier that night, although i'd remembered having a really good time. so i decided to dive into the archives of this blog and see if i'd written about it somewhere. of course, i didn't. go figure. but it was really funny to read about all the hijinxes we used to get into back in the day. there was 1 month where i kept arriving home at 8 a.m. from nights out! and i found an entry where Oppa got into a fight!

while i remembered most of the events coinciding with the entries, i have to admit that certain details/aspects of the story i'd completely forgotten had ever happened. clearly, it did happen since i wrote about it, but why can't i remember? i'm seriously concerned about this failing memory. i'm not sure if it's a sign of old age, brain damage, or impending stupidity...

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.

happy birthday Debs!

so Debs turned the big 'ol 24 and decided to throw her party at 230 Fifth. i invited Egg, Kiks and Chen to come along and we all got ready together before heading out, albeit kind of late.

due to some misdirection by Egg we got out at the wrong subway stop and had to walk 8 blocks back to 27th and 5th where the party was. we slowly trundled along and was just a block away when i got a text message from Debs saying that 230 Fifth had been shut down and she was moving the party to Hotel on Rivington. sure enough, when i look up i see an enormous crowd outside of 230 Fifth. ppl are still waiting in line but it's pretty obvious that no one's getting in. to this day, no one knows what happened. it's a mystery.

so we hop back on the subway and once again get off at the wrong stop but finally get to Hotel on Rivington where we immediately feel like VIP b/c there's a line to get in but we get to jump in front of it b/c Debs has booked a table. love that feeling. while i definitely liked that place and had a good time seeing some of Debs' Tufts friends i haven't seen in a while, i'm not sure that i'll be back anytime soon. there's just nothing that's overly impressive/singularly unique about the place.

afterwards, Kiks decides to head home and Egg, Chen and i move onto Living Room right around the corner for another drink. was pretty buzzed by the time we got here and could only plop myself down on a bar stool and slowly slip by raspberry stoli and soda while i played 3rd wheel to Egg and Chen. we finished our drinks and headed home, where i made Chen some ramen to finish off the night.

the end of an era

after finally being able to talk w/Gohm, i feel much better and have hopes things will be ok. as such, i'm finally ready to share moments from those last few days together.

in honor of Gohm's departure Chow and Min got the crew together at 230 Fifth. they got 2 tables and 2 bottles which allowed everyone to get in on the guest list w/o having to wait in the insane line that was building around the block. it was really good to see everyone together and lots of ppl came to say their goodbyes.

of course, the boys all immediately dragged Gohm to the bar and then shots started flowing all over the place. Oppa made a promise to get Gohm retarted but at the end it ended up that Oppa got completely wasted and we eventually lost him at Third Floor in ktown where he was going to stay w/friends who were there and he had no idea where his car was parked. everybody definitely got a little toasted (at the least).

Urban was a little cold that night (it was windy on the rooftop) and she started to hug the little candles on the tables in order to keep warm. eventually she hugged it so close to her face that she set her bangs on fire and ultimately singed her hair. don't worry, Urban is fine and doesn't look any worse for the wear.

as always, we ended up at Gahm Mi Oak for sul rul tang. at some point, Guns decided to start chucking peppers at Johnson who was sitting pretty far away but was trying to catch them in his mouth. each one kept bouncing off Johnson's face and you could tell he was getting a little frustrated. eventually Johnson got to eat a pepper but he had to put it in his own mouth w/o Guns' help.

after a crazy and late night out, Gohm and i had to meet one of his old Cali co-workers for brunch. both of us were definitely hurting when we got to Hunter's and i couldn't really eat any of the food i'd ordered. after brunch we headed over to the Met in order to do the NY tourist thing. i haven't been there since my last school field trip so it was fun to be back there. of course, Gohm and i both acted as if we were on a field trip. after getting my museum map i rolled it up and kept smacking Gohm w/it. Gohm, like a typical boy, only got really excited when we went to the medieval armory, "cool, guns!" and "en garde" (at the sight of the swords). it was so funny but adorable.

after 3-4 hrs everybody was museumed out and we went to pinkberry. i have to admit that the 1st time i had pinkberry i wasn't a big fan. that was before trying it w/all those fruit toppings. so yummy. i have now become a complete pinkberry fan. deelish...

NYC blackout

friday was Ahjima's bday party. i was exhausted all day as well as very very broke but i was a trooper! i went home & took a giant nap after work & then headed over to Ahjima's before we all went to 230 Fifth together. of course, having gone home & napped instead of eating dinner made for a very interesting night out.

the best thing about 230 Fifth is its rooftop. honestly it's amazing to see the view surrounding you on all sides of the building. luckily friday night was beautiful weather, not too muggy but still very warm and nice. Debs got there before us and it was hilarity to try and find each other on that crowded rooftop. our text messages and phone calls kept saying "i'm by the bar.where are you?"; "I'M by the bar.WHERE are you?" etc.

after locating most of our party, Ahjima's oppa Gohm began to try and locate a table for all of us which was no easy task. he finally managed to secure one but had to purchase 2 bottles in order to get it. i heard later that the total bill for him came to about $800. i've gotta pitch in but $60 for a single vodka & cranberry? me & Gohm will have to negotiate.

i remember sitting w/Debs at the table & talking then sitting & talking w/Gohm for a bit. Debs got ready to leave & i walked w/her where she subsequently ran into some guys she had met prior to our arrival. she walked away w/him & i got left w/his awkward friend so i departed too. there was a whole bathroom debacle where i was messy enough that a very nice bodyguard was my private escort to the bathroom & then the rest of the night is a blank.

all i know is i woke up the next morning in my own apartment in my own pajamas w/no visible scars/trauma marks. interesting... i called Ahjima to see if she could fill in the blanks but she had no idea what happened to me & Debs had already left by then. it's a complete mystery. however, Ahjima did comment that she was very impressed that i made it all the way back to Hoboken in the state i was in. i think i'm impressed too.