Honey Wasabi Ice Cream? Whaaaaaa?!

now-a-days, i have a regular happy hour tradition with BlackSesame and Kiddo on friday nights. however, if i think back, the tradition really started with Kiddo and me.  due to the close proximity of our job locations, we would randomly ask each other to meet up for drinks or dinner, our schedules permitting.

on 1 such particular night, Kiddo asked me to meet him for drinks and dinner. suffering from a particularly nasty hangover that day, i had initially wanted to decline.  however, Kiddo pressed me to attend, and something in the way he said, "i just need to drink tonight" convinced me to acquiesce, although i suggested a ramen restaurant for dinner in the hopes that the broth would soothe my stomach (there's just something so home-y about ramen and noodle soups. its the asian equivalent of the American chicken noodle soup).

my stomach was still acting up by the time i arrived at St. Marks to meet Kiddo.  being the earlier party for once (it's very rare), i stopped into Spot Dessert Bar for some Condensed Milk Ice Cream, figuring the dairy would help to line my stomach for the alcohol i intended to put into it. when Kiddo arrived, he recommended we go to Soba-Ya for noodles instead of my ramen suggestion. soba sounded like a nice, gentle option for my tummy and was close to our current location, so we headed over.

holy jabroni what a good decision. Soba-Ya is a decently sized restaurant (not too big, not too small), but due to the popularity of it there's always a wait. ours wasn't that bad, about 20-30 mins. 

since Kiddo's primary objective was to imbibe alcohol, he was very generous with the menu and allowed me to pick what we ate.  we started with 2 special appetizers: uni with yuzu-ponzu gelee and fresh wasabi. being a big fan of uni, i was curious about this dish. the uni was very fresh and creamy and the gelee added a nice acidity/sweetness to the dish, with the wasabi rounding out the flavors with a slight kick.  my only complaint would be that the dish is a little difficult to eat as the gelee melts extremely quick and the proportion of gelee to uni is very unbalanced leaving you with a dish of gelee at the end.

our other appetizer was ankimo (monkfish liver). this was the best rendition of this dish i've tasted to date. it's served cold and the texture is akin to pate, with an equally game-y, complex flavor. dressed with a little bit of ponzu sauce, this was my favorite dish of the night.  

for entrees,Kiddo and i differed slightly for our preferences. since my tummy was still a little sensitive, i preferred to get a hot soba whereas Kiddo preferred a cold one. so in the end we ordered a large order of the Kamo Seiro ($16): sliced duck and tokyo negi in a hot dipping sauce and a large order of the Mori ($9.50).  while the Kamo Seiro was very good, it was a little salty and distracted from the natural flavor of the soba. in the end, i preferred Kiddo's order of Mori, so it was lucky for me that we shared both entrees.

although i was happily satiated food-wise, i was intrigued by their offering of honey-wasabi ice cream and, with Kiddo's encouragement, ended up ordering a trio of ice creams for dessert. and i can't recommend the flavor enough! it's sweet with a little wasabi-mustard kick that isn't unpleasant!

by the end of the meal, i had discovered a restaurant i really loved, and Kiddo had managed to drink approximately 70-80% of a very large bottle of sake. as we exited the restaurant, Kiddo (a little intoxicated) convinced me to go check out Japadog, as he could "still eat," and he knew the restaurant was on my list.

which was how we found ourselves at Japadog. i ordered the Croquette (japanese croquette and arabiki sausage) while Kiddo ordered the recommended Terimayo (teriyaki sauce, mayo, and seaweed). while the Croquette had a little too much going on for a hotdog, i liked the Terimayo which was savory and sweet at the same time. next time, i would order the Oroshi. Kiddo wasn't as impressed.

The Terimayo

The Croquette

inquiring about what else was on my list, we found ourselves around the corner at Pommes Frites for my first time eating these crunchy french fries. at this point, i have no idea how i managed to fit any more food in my stomach and i can't recall exactly what sauces we chose although i remember there being 2. i do remember the weather was nice enough that we sat outside while we munched away and the french fries were salty and delicious and the dipping sauces were perfect.

oooo, just thinking about this night reminds me of why i'm such a fatty now.

No Regrets

look at me just churning out the blog posts! probably because i'm completely checked out right now about work (sometimes when things get too burdensome or overwhelming i just completely shut down about it-DEFINITELY not a good self-defense mechanism).

last night i met up with Stitch who i haven't seen in a bajillion years. we're planning on attending the 2NE1 concert at the Prudential Center on August 17th and i had a check to give to Stitch for it. i picked Ugly Kitchen to meet up since i wasn't sure whether we would be eating or snacking, and Ugly Kitchen does happy hour until 9 pm everyday ($6 cocktails, wines, and well drinks and $4 draft beers). we did the usual catch-up conversation since it had literally been ages since we had met up wherein i felt like my life was completely boring compared to Stitch but i also learned the following:

1. Stitch's job is in PR for liquor clients (this i already knew about her, i didn't just learn it last night). what i didn't know was that her job is exactly like how i imagined it would be on TV: she plans parties and events to showcase her client's liquor. so fun. granted i learned this because she had a work crisis regarding an event in Boston (also fun, she gets to travel for her work to attend these events. last week she was in San Francisco), but still, these typical work stresses aside, this Stitch has a pretty cool job.

2. Stitch is mad at Gohm. yes, my ears still perk up at all news about my ex. it's the same feeling you get when you walk through a historical exhibit where they recreate the life of a 1776 colonial person. clearly you're far removed from the person so you'll never really know what was going on with them in their life, but it's when you hear or see little tidbits about their life, you have an abstract sliver of what it's like to be them or what they were doing/thinking.

3. Stitch may move to San Francisco. NOOOOOO! i barely see Stitch as it is and if she moves to the Wrong Coast aka California i may never see her! then who will i have to go with me to kpop concerts and fangirl about 2PM?!?! boooooooooo.

all these updates were fun and insightful, but the best one was that Stitch has started to like a friend of hers that she's known for 10 years. hooray! i love those kinds of stories. and apparently, he's always liked her, which means that he probably still likes her but thought it was foregone conclusion that she would never like him.  so boy will he be in for a big surprise.

we continued this conversation over dinner at Ramen Misoya, which is only a few blocks away from Ugly Kitchen and is on my list of restaurants to try. it's the newer of the ramen shops to open in the St. Marks area and although small, it doesn't seem as pretentious and hipstery as the other popular ramen places. since it's a small place, i think it's ideal for 2 people, although if absolutely necessary you can prob push it to 4. but that's it. no more. don't ask me to.

both of us claimed we weren't that hungry. however, Stitch wanted a hot ramen with soup whereas i was intrigued by the cold ramen offering, so we ended up each ordering an individual serving.  Stitch ended up with an order of Shiro Miso Chashu ($13.80) which was recommended by the waitress as one of the most popular soup options and also the lightest. while i can't confirm either claim, the dish (of the 1 i had) had nice and chewy wavy noodles and a flavorful but light (as alleged) soup. 

i on the other hand, had ordered the Cold Sesame Shiro Miso ($10) which is a cold, soupless order of al dente wavy noodles served with iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, ground pork, and corn with a sesame shiro sauce. indulging my chinese heritage, i also added a hefty dosing of shichimi and rice vinegar which gave the cold noodles the exact punch i was looking for. and apparently we were both hungrier than we thought since we each finished our portions without any trouble.


if you get to go, i also recommend ordering a carafe of their cold sake. it's served in the cutest carafe i've ever seen. there is a hole in the center of the carafe where ice cubes are placed in order to keep the sake nice and cold. and no matter how you pour the sake out, the ice cubes (even as they melt) don't ever fall out of their little holding cell. it's pretty impressive.


so back to my convo with Stitch. i gave her 1 quick word of warning about my own experience crossing the friend line with someone i had known for over a decade:


i had known Door for a long time and we had initially dated back in middle school but broke up after a month (if it could even be called a real relationship). and ever since then we were in constant communication through high school and would occasionally hang out since he lived only 2 towns over from me. throughout this entire period, Door would serenade me with claims that i was "the one that got away" and how much he liked me. i would politely defer, and brush these overtures off as just silly talk. 


until my freshman year of college, where i was away from home for the first time, at a women's college. and i would occasionally miss home and eventually fell into a pattern of talking almost daily to Door, who was back home in NJ. so no surprise that i started to really entertain the idea of dating Door and began to see him as a real prospect. and so 1 day i told Door that i was ready to date him and wanted to be together with him in an actual relationship. 


at first Door didn't believe me, which is understandable since for him, it seemed to come out of the blue, and it wasn't like he was acting any different than he usually did over the many years that i had known him. but eventually, he accepted what i said as true, and we tried the dating thing. and things went well for the few months that i was at school, but quickly went downhill once i returned home to NJ for the summer and we had a real, day-to-day existence as a couple.


Door turned douchey real fast once i got home and he realized he had to be a boyfriend on a daily basis. and Door and i are still friends to this day and he completely admits that he turned douchey. but here was the real problem: after all those years of claiming he "loved" me, when it actually happened, it became apparent that Door wasn't "in love" with me, he was just used to the "idea" of me and what he imagined dating me would be. and even tho he knew me in real life, the idea he had of me as a girlfriend adjusted to fit whatever mood he was in or whatever phase of life he was going through. so no wonder i didn't live up to that expectation. and so no surprise, we broke up.


so when Stitch told me she was a little nervous to confess her feelings to her friend, i gave her this little tale of warning. however, i also gave her my feelings about the whole experience: if i hadn't done it, i would've regretted it for the rest of my life. because i would have always wondered "what if." but since i did it, i never have to wonder if Door was my soul mate or what would have happened if we had tried dating because now i know. and while we didn't end up together, we are still friends and can talk about that time together in a nostalgic and amicable way.


so good luck Stitch! try to go through life with as little regrets as possible.

 
 

Last Night I Let the Party Get the Best of Me...

"No drivin', no sleepin'
Live it up like it's the weekend
When the DJ play the right song
Gon' drink, gon' party all night long" 

                                               -Wiz Khalifa, "No Sleep"


i could've used this blogpost title for 2 weekends that happened in close proximity to each other. i had to think hard about for which one it was more apropos. (is that the correct way to use that term? i know i've read/heard it used before but can't remember the grammatical context. i'm just impressed i remembered a new vocab word.)


remember a while ago i said i was planning a bday party? well, i've finally gotten over my embarassment about that day and can now share it with you with a devil-may-care-i'll-just-chalk-it-up-to-my-pre30s-hijinxes attitude. i mean, it wasn't that bad...


the day started with me scrambling to get to ChubbyBunny's bday party, because, as expected, i was running late. i parked the car in Jersey City and hopped the PATH and one very long 1 train subway ride later, i was finally at Boat Basin Cafe.  BTWs, the place is great but a little scary to get to. you have to cross a highway and walk under a stone bridge and just feel all-around-sketch before getting to a great outdoor space on the water. the weather was damp and gray that afternoon so it was no surprise that the place wasn't packed. i had arrived too late to eat any snacks that been laid out but it's never too late to get a drink. there was a little make-shift bar set up to cater to ChubbyBunny's party which was great, except it was cash bar only. luckily i had $8 on me so i got a drink ($4+tip i think) and chatted with DoE who had flown from Cali to attend ChubbyBunny's bday. 


the party was only supposed to last until 3 p.m. and i had arrived a little after 2 p.m. whenever i come into the city i always make it a point to pack in as many events & people as possible since i rarely come in during the week. on this particular day i'd made plans to meet a family friend for drinks after ChubbyBunny's bday during the 2 hour window before dinner with friends.


of course, once alcohol comes into the picture, the idea of a set schedule is always the first casualty.


after a second drink (the bartender took pity on me and allowed me to purchase my scotch on the rocks with my paltry remaining $3=LOVE), i raced downtown to Rye House with DoE, DoE's college roommate, and DoE's college roommate's boyfriend (got all that?) in tow to meet with FamilyFriend. i was over an hour late. and starting to get a little tipsy...

i'd suggested Rye House because i was pretty curious about the place. i'd heard good things about their food, and, looking at the drink menu, it seemed like the kind of spot that guys and girls would like (meaning a variety of "manly" whiskeys and "girly" mixed cocktails). i was also pretty in love with how chill it was when we arrived. the place wasn't crowded at all, so we got one of the long tables/booths on the side. the wooden and marble decor makes the place feel local and classy. hovering on hipster/trendy but never crossing the line. then again, i wasn't there on a weekend night at 11 p.m., so who knows.



Love the proper ice cube. they serve "rocks" the way they're supposed to be: large ice cubes so the drink doesn't get too watery right away.

i ordered a Ballantine on the rocks ($8), which was the cheapest scotch they had on the menu. if i didn't have dinner plans in 30 mins, i might have ordered something else i could savor, but in light of the circumstances, i just went for something easy. they do have a lot of nice options and i'll have to go back some other time when i can leisurely enjoy it.

in addition, and realizing the liquid night i had ahead of me, i ordered Fried Pickles ($6) to nosh on with our drinks.  they came out piping hot and crispy. with the 6 of us, the small order was gone within 3 seconds of it landing on our table.


after 2 Ballantines and a slew of text messages, i raced to my dinner reservations at Paprika. i don't know why i thought West 17th was so close to 1st Ave that i could easily arrive in 10 mins. it's not. so of course i arrived about 30 mins late to my own dinner reservation.  so here's a list of my bad behavior up to this point in the night:


1. arriving late to ChubbyBunny's bday party.
2. arriving an hour late to meet FamilyFriend at Rye House.
3. sitting for 30 mins with FamilyFriend after he waited for over an hour before abandoning him with people he didn't know.
4. in my haste to get to Paprika, i forgot to leave money for my drinks and food at Rye House.
5. arriving 30 mins late for my own dinner reservation with 6 friends waiting for me.
6. arriving very tipsy to dinner.


by the time i arrived at Paprika, i was definitely not sober. of course, you never realize this yourself. but it was apparently obvious to my friends, which they informed me when i spoke to them later that week. so i wish i could provide a detailed description of my dinner, but... it was all a little hazy. it's like watching a movie with the sound off. i remember what i ordered (Beef Carpaccio and Lobster Maccheroni) and i remember eating them. i also remember drinking red wine. and that's it.


::sigh:: i am too old to be having nights like this. yes, it was my birthday dinner, but birthdays are not free license to act like an asshole. although my friends all lovingly advise me that that is exactly what birthdays are for, that's just because they're my friends. they also kindly advised me i was not an asshole, but again, they're my friends.  it's not that rolling brown outs make people act shitty, but i didn't like that i couldn't recall what happened when the check came. i know my friends took care of it, but how did i behave? did i politely offer to contribute or did i sit back with an air of entitlement to the whole ordeal? i have a sneaking suspicion it was latter vs. the former. and that is not acceptable.

luckily, the electricity came back on in my brain after we left Paprika and i remember us walking to Central Bar for the party portion of the night. on the way, we stopped at Momofuku Milk Bar for dessert and snacks. i remember nibbling at other Kpopper's and She's snack and thinking "yummy" but again, what is was i tasted is a mystery.

we had a table reserved upstairs at Central and i pretty much stayed rooted to my seat the whole night, with magical scotches on the rocks appearing in front of me in 30 minute intervals (hooray for my friends!). it was a great birthday night, rolling brown outs excluded, and i loved that all my friends were there. i remember all of you being there even if i can't remember every conversation we had.


some  drama happened much much later in the night (or morning) which resulted in me making a hasty decision to stay at a friend's place and waking up the next morning extremely hungover in the middle of Chinatown. but that's a story too scandalous/embarassing to share on a blog...

hangovers need starch

there's always something daunting about going into a new place for the first time. there's something even more daunting about doing it during midtown lunch. the hustle-and-bustle of a midtown lunch spot can be intimidating when you're the newbie. if you don't understand the ordering methodology or dawdle too long about what to order from the menu, you inevitably feel the death glares from all the regulars standing behind you as well as from the person standing behind the counter taking your order.

::shiver:: NYC can be a harsh place when it comes to food. luckily for me, i tried El Papasito on the day the snow storm started, so no one was really venturing outside to get food.

i was slightly hungover from the previous night out at Go. i'd planned to meet Kiddo there for drinks and then head over to meet She and Egg for dinner at Klong. however, as always in the legal profession, work caused me to change my plans. i ended up being 30 mins late (not counting that at the last minute i rescheduled for another 30 mins, so in total it was an hour) but luckily for me Kiddo was also running late, not to mention Egg was over an hour late after that (but he works at a big-time law firm so he's forgiven because we expect that). needless to say, by the time i got to Go i was in dire need of a drink. Egg and i have decided we're going to give Go a shot as our new go-to spot (no pun intended, honestly). they have a great drink deal of sake and 16 oz. beer for only $6.50. the price has risen significantly tho since the 1st time i was there (which was probably a year ago). the drink deal used to be $5.00. if Go keeps raising it's price i'll have to stop going (again, no pun intended).

by the time Egg and She showed up, i was 2 orders into the drink deal. we decided to forego Klong (although i will go one day-i promise you that. who can resist delicious affordable Thai food and $16 bottles of wine?) and just eat at Go. being economically aware that i wanted to spend most of my money on drinks, i only ordered 2 items: a yellowtail and scallion roll ($5) and deep-fried tomato wrapped in bacon on mashed potatoes ($5). O-M-G. completely unhealthy but totally amazing. there's only 2 pieces per serving but it is so good. the outside's all crispy bacon and then the inside's the soft tomato, which is also hot. YUMMY. because it was so good i offered the other serving to Egg to try and in exchange he offered me 1 of his salmon skin rolls. so not an equal trade. the salmon skin roll was salty, which i guess is good when paired with beer, but definitely not the equivalent of my deep-fried-bacon-tomato-yumminess. it's the one that got away... ::forlorn::

afterwards we headed over to Spot Dessert Bar because i've been reading about this place for a while and it was conveniently located almost directly across the street. i kept going on about how the chef for Spot is very well-known for his desserts but i couldn't remember his name and just kept randomly spewing out famous chef names, and still getting them wrong. but now i know: Pichet Ong. rolling into Spot at around 11ish doesn't bode well for them having everything on the menu. by the time we got there they were sold out of a few things, but we made do. compared to the meal and drinks we had at Go, Spot doesn't seem as good a deal. things on the menu ranged from $4-8, but since they only serve dessert, it does seem a bit pricey.

She ended up ordering the Vanilla Almond Coconut cupcake with a side of Coconut Sorbet. together they had a coconut-y flavor, but i thought the cupcake just tasted like out-of-the-box vanilla cupcake. and it was smaller than i expected, but that may just be because NY creates this assumption of a ginormous cupcake so when you get one that's regular-sized you're always underwhelmed. Kiddo ordered a Ginger Oatmeal Raisin Cookie which was bigger than expected and pretty delicious with a strong ginger kick. i ordered something like a Chocolate Banana Mouse-Pudding thing (i can't remember exactly what is was and it's not on the menu on-line. i DO know i did not order anything that had poached honey pear. or at least i'm pretty sure it didn't. and i distinctly remember bananas being there. but then again, i was drunk). either way, i thought my dessert, whatever it was, was just ok. it also ended up being the most expensive out of everything we ordered, maxing out at $8.00. Egg ordered the Thai Coffee Float and specially requested they add boba to it, which, after checking, they were willing to do for an additional 75 cents. Egg referred to the concoction as "perfection".

the next day, i woke up and found myself trudging to work as the snow storm officially arrived in NY. not fun. on top of that, a sake+beer headache started to creep up on me as the day progressed so i decided i needed to eat a hearty lunch with lots of starch/carbs to counteract the way i was feeling. i was gonna hit the 53rd Street Halal Cart since it's right across the street from my office but my co-worker suggested El Papasito instead. i was enticed by the concept of a $6 lunch special and was convinced after i read about the place on Midtown Lunch's site. i ordered the Stewed Beef on Rice and Beans which is served with a side of bread. i could only eat half of it before i started feeling sleepy from such a heavy lunch. the beef was good, not super tender, but better than most. and the rice and beans were also yummy. it's a good deal for $6 but i wouldn't call it the best food ever. but that might just be because i was feeling all crappy from my hangover.

Heartbreaker

i try to keep truly personal things out of this blog, but something's really been pressing down on me as of late. but since AmericasMostWanted doesn't want to deal with the situation head on and i don't think (at this point) it's worth it to seek her out to tell her, i'm gonna air it out here. usually i wouldn't do this, but it's really been bugging me and while i could talk it out over and over again with other friends, that just gets tiring for me and those friends. i also don't wanna do that and then lose all the steam in how i feel and then just let the situation go because then i'll feel like more of a jackass than Jackass for continuing the friendship. then i'd truly be a frenemy.

last week BLS threw an inter-law school mixer for valentine's day. i wasn't too stoked to go because funds have been very tight as of late. however, a bunch of ppl i knew were going and then i found out the event was held at Hudson Terrace, which i've never been to and is only used as an event space so i might not have another opportunity to go. the place has an amazing rooftop, which must be so great in the summer or early fall, but in this freezing February was not that fun. but the place has potential (although very expensive) and the night started out great. Coleslaw and i got ready together, AMW brought wine down and we pre-gamed a little before, and then Coleslaw, Cubed and i headed over on the subway together. this part of the night was fun and fine. and then things took a turn for the worse...

this part of the story is a tried and true example of why you should always go with your gut and never let anyone talk you into doing anything you don't want to do. because you'll just live to regret it. AMW was pretty wasted at this point and Coleslaw and the crew were ready to go to the Brazen for cheap drinks and i was so down for that plan. but then AMW stumbled over to me and pleaded that i go out with her in Manhattan instead of going back to brooklyn. the only reason i ended up going wasn't because of the money, but because AMW was drunk and i knew she was going out with Jackass, who she always swears up and down she is over and done with and wants nothing to do with (in a romantic capacity), so i wanted to make sure she didn't do anything stupid while she was drunk.

biggest mistake of my life. ok, that's exaggerating. but definitely up there. i spent the cab ride to Cheap Shots (yes, i ended up there, and the whole place smelled like pee, which was so fun) being "asked out" by Jackass while he and AMW held hands in the cab. when we arrived at Cheap Shots i hopped out of the cab as fast as i could, only to be accosted by Jackass who repeatedly asked me out. i went to the bathroom and came out, and the 1st words out of AMW's mouth is, "just so you know, Jackass has a small penis."

ummmmmm.............did i ask you anything? no, i don't think so. i then i endured another 15 minutes where Jackass spent his time refuting the fact while AMW spent her time reassuring me it was true. um, that's not awkward at all.

here was what i thought would be the ticker for the night. while the guys were in the bathroom, i told AMW what Jackass had been doing all night and how i'd given him a piece of my mind because it was so disrespectful to AMW and to me and to all the other ppl involved. to which she responded, "Jackass told me to ask you if you liked him."

i promptly told her that she could tell him to suck it and repeated all my harsh words. to which she responded, "well, i'm not gonna say anything because i don't want to be in the middle of this." i just lost my shit. i can't believe AMW told me she didn't want to be in the middle of it, when she's the reason i was in the middle of it at all. at that point i told her i just wanted to go home because i was fed up.

we all went back to brooklyn (but not without making another scene, very AMW-style) and met the crew at Brazen Head. i was livid at this point. i didn't talk to Jackass or AMW for the rest of the time we were at Brazen. except for 2 incidents.

1. Jackass came up to me to claim he was "kidding" about the whole date thing. honestly, i really don't care. if he was kidding, it wasn't funny because of my friendship w/AMW and other girls he's done this to. if he wasn't kidding, the same reason still applies. as i've gotten older and with everything that's happened to me, friends and family are most important to me. and it's a big thing that nobody can say shit about either while in front of me. when i say "shit", i don't mean utterances that represent venting or being temporarily annoyed at them. that you can do all you want. but when you start insulting or attacking them, it's on like donkey kong. as long as i'm there, no one's gonna do that or hurt them in anyway. which is why Jackass's actions really enraged me, because he was doing something that was disrespectful not only to me, but hurtful to AMW and others. and that's not allowed and i won't be a part of it.

2. AMW, before the night ended, pulled me into the bathroom with her to discuss the situation. she told me she was "mad" for me. she went on to explain the 2 reasons why. 1st, if he was really hitting on me, she was mad for me because of the situation it put me in or something like that. she didn't really explain this reason because even in her tone, you could tell she didn't actually believe this reason.
so let's move on to reason number 2. AMW was "mad" for me because she knows Jackass was only asking me out as a joke. why? i'm not gonna explain how i know this, or what happened, but about 3 weeks ago, Jackass revealed he's a bit of a bigot. apparently asians are all "chinks" etc. and he has no problem using this kind of language. so AMW knew for sure that Jackass was asking me out only as a joke because, and i quote, "he'd never actually date an asian girl. he said so himself." and so, that's why AMW was "mad" for me. because i am a "pretty girl" and it's just "so rude" of him to hit on me as a joke, etc. what got me tho, was she wasn't really mad at him. she spent the whole night talking to him and cuddling by themselves. to a guy who was a bigot to me. and the capper on this night? AMW and Jackass had been making out in Brazen while they'd been having this conversation. and she still went home with him that night.

and that really breaks my heart.

My Pheromones are On the Fritz

last night, while making kimbap with Egg, somehow the conversation came up where he mentioned that Japan had created a national law against obesity. and it's true! who would've guessed? it looks like the way it works is that company and govs have to do an annual checkup of their employees and included in that is a mandatory measuring of waistlines. if the waistline is over the national standard, the company has 3 months to "re-educate" the individual and see if they lose weight. if they don't, the company or gov gets fined. here's the newspaper article.

i wonder if a law like this would be effective against me, even if i was the person who had to pay the fines. there'd definitely be some inner turmoil about whether it'd be worth it to pay the fine just so i could eat my favorite foods. money vs food; hmm, that's a toughie. speaking of eating, i went out for a last hurrah dinner w/Debs, who's moving to Cali tomorrow ::sniffle, sniffle:: we ended up eating at Yakitori Taisho since we are both pretty strapped for cash. love that place for hot food and it's pretty good when you're just 2 ppl b/c it still feels intimate.

now there's something i have to say about Debs. i'm sure i've mentioned it before, but Debs has this unexplainable effect on boys. i mean, of course, she's cute, she's very intelligent, classy, and dresses elegant and far from trashy, so yes, she's got all that going for her. but that's not the Debs effect. without fail, whenever i go out with her, and to tranquil things like quiet dinners or coffee, someone always hits on her. this is a tried and true theory i've come to realize.

as we were leaving dinner, the guys at the table sitting behind her totally made a mild, giggly pass at her. and then, after dinner, we went to St. Alps for tea and some dessert toast, and the guys at the table next to us stopped to ask her what she was eating and have a whole convo. now, this wouldn't be considered much, except the guys had already finished and had no intention of ordering anything else. so see? we went to only 2 places, and neither were typical pick-up spots, yet Debs managed to have male attention at both places. and this is the norm.

Debs must have the most powerful pheromones on the plane. and mine must be broken.

you're a lesbian! you're pregnant! you're getting married!

haven't seen my girls in a while (the OTHER girls) so i went out to dinner at Kenka w/Bubby and Kiks. Kiks had told me that Bubby had a surprising, life-changing announcement to make. and i don't know why, but my immediate thought was "she's a lesbian." why is that? Bubby has had no experiences w/girls (altho i think she made out w/one once before, but we did go to an womens' college so that's really just a given) and has always been all about boys. when i got to the restaurant and i said what i thought it was that was firmly denied and my next thought was "she's getting married." also a preposterous concept b/c i know for a fact she's not dating anyone. when i recounted this story to DRC she also immediately guessed lesbian first and then guessed pregnancy second. why is that? anyways, the big announcement is that Bubby's moving out of NYC. for various reasons, she's decided to move to Charleston, SC for a while. ::sniffle, sniffle:: i will miss you, Bubby...

but since the move isn't going to be for a bit we didn't dwell on it and instead enjoyed dinner, of course starting w/beer ASAP and tako wasabi (salted octopus w/wasabi-it's so good and perfect for drinking beer w/). eventually Snoopy joined us for a bit b/c he had a dinner date later that night. Snoopy always astounds me. that boy can eat 4 dinners in a row and not get fat. and usually he does eat that many meals in a day b/c he's a social superman and never says "no" to going out or meeting up. how he has the stamina for that i really don't know... we had the weirdest and probably most inappropriate convos to have in public but it was a hilarious dinner: from what pornos we prefer, how Snoopy seamlessly picks up girls, whether guys are proportionate, art museums, etc.

at some point in the dinner i looked outside and saw Stitch walking past the restaurant. i bolted out the door and screamed down the sidewalk "STITCH!" and of course she turned around, as did the other 30 people on the sidewalk. how embarassing. she walked back towards me and we caught up and she told me she was meeting Kid later that night in my neighborhood. i've gotta admit, i'm pretty proud of the 2 of them for getting together. kudos to me for introducing them. they're both such adorable and sweet people that i'm really glad they hit it off and are having such a cute time of it right now. i'm crossing my fingers to be in their wedding some day.

we finally left Kenka and headed towards the subway when all of sudden, Bubby had to pee (damn beer and the whole concept of breaking the seal). so while she stopped at Starbucks, Kiks and i stopped at the Dessert Truck. i think i've seen it around but definitely not all the time. regardless, it has a distinct ice cream truck feel except it serves fancy desserts. for instance, i got the Chocolate Bread Pudding w/Creme Angleis, Kiks got Chocolate Mousse w/a Peanut Butter Center, and Bubby got something like Baked Apples and Cinnamon Crisp. it was all totally delish but while we were standing there and i was debating if i should get something, the way the truck's designed just made me feel like i was standing at a Mr. Softee. i told the guy in the truck that and he answered that he gets that all the time and customers have actually gotten mad at them for not having soft-serve ice cream. and altho i agreed w/him that that was just ridiculous, secretly i was thinking that same thing...

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.

why does he get that glass while i get this one?

It's the Year of the Rat! yes, it doesn't sound as cute as last year's Year of the Pig but there are definite benefits to being born in the Year of the Rat (altho i don't know much about Chinese astrological signs except from what I've read off chinese restaurant placemats so i can't think of anything right now).

Co-Chair and i, in order to prepare for APALSA's lunch event, went into the city to pick up some decorations and prizes for the raffle. on the day of the ticker tape parade. BIG MISTAKE. it was such a nightmare b/c no one was allowed to cross Broadway and we'd made the mistake of attempting to go to Pearl River Mart. we took the 2 train to Chambers Street but b/c we couldn't get onto Broadway or cross over to get to Chinatown, we walked all the way down to Rector Street and then took the R to Canal Street. once we hit Chinatown it was as if the parade wasn't even going on b/c it was completely empty.

i took Co-Chair to real Chinatown to try and find things and we did get some stuff before heading over to tourist Chinatown where we found everything we needed. go figure right? the APALSA Lunar New Year lunch was held in the student lounge and it was a mini-mob scene but in a good way, although we only served fried rice and lo mein (i know, not original, but great for a big crowd). there was a little stress w/planning the event but in the end everything seemed to work out and i'm just glad it's over and i have a breather before the next event.

that night i met up for dinner w/Oppa at Sushi Lounge on St. Marks. we gave it a try based on someone else's suggestion b/c Sushi Lounge does happy hour sushi deals w/50% of all sushi. if we hadn't met up so early we could've caught the 10:00 pm and after 1/2 price drinks deal too. Oppa ordered about 5 or 6 rolls just for himself. before he'd ordered he'd warned me in advance how much he was going to order and wanted me to watch the waitress's face to see if there was any change or awe in her expression. however, the waitress had no reaction whatsoever. i think Oppa's pride was a little hurt by that...

after dinner we decided to head over to Gama for a few drinks. Gama's the new korean place that opened up on St. Marks and i've never tried it. we didn't order any food but a party of 6 was eating up a storm next to the bar and even tho i was full, i was tempted to order a snack. we had the cutest bartender! Oppa ordered the drinks while i went to bathroom. i'd told him i wanted a Raspberry Stoli and soda but he only heard the Raspberry Stoli part so when i came back we each had different glasses. i had a short stout tumbler (the drink was on the rocks) whereas he had a skinny tall glass. i asked him why our glasses were different and this is what he said:

"she gave us glasses based on our body type"

WHAT!?!? of course he tried to save himself by quickly making it into a joke and then looking earnest as he swore up and down that he would never say that to me if it was even remotely true. sure, sure Oppa. so to get some revenge, when Oppa went to the bathroom i asked the bartender why she gave us different glasses (even tho i already knew at that point b/c i'd sipped my drink already). she told me why (o and p.s., Oppa had ordered a Stoli Vanilla w/tonic. he later admitted he likes to try all the girlie drinks w/me since he can't officially order them when he's out w/the guys) and then asked me why i'd asked her such a question. i told her what Oppa had said and her eyes grew wide and she instantly became my girl friend and was going on about how it doesn't matter who the guy is, he can't say that to a girl.

when Oppa got back from the bathroom and finished his drink, he ordered another 1 and the bartender gave him a dirty look and said he was mean. Oppa was totally stunned and then i started laughing hysterically. i had to wait until i was finished laughing before i could explain the situation to him.

see, this is why Oppa and i will obviously never date. we are SO oppa and tongsen.

the 1st snowfall

it's snowing in NY! and i was actually awake to see it! of course it's because i've been sleeping at insane hours (basically vampire-like sleeping schedules) and now it's exams-time so i pretty much imagine being up virtually all the time now... regardless, it was nice to be up and see the 1st snowfall in the city (well ok, brooklyn, but let's not get technical).


it being my last wkd before disappearing into the dark, dank hell of reading period i decided to spend time w/some of my favorite ppl (tho i couldn't w/ALL my favorite ppl, after all i'm only 1 person). i had a mini-slumber party w/Bubby and Kiks at their apt in Astoria where we gorged out on fondue and tapenade, flourless chocolate cake and wine. i love doing that w/them b/c it reminds me of my Smithie days (it was an all girls school so every day was a slumber party). there were highs and lows to the night: we watched Spiderman 3 (low) and talked about going to Taipei for my spring break (very big high). i really really really hope that works out b/c i'm dying to go again. it's 1 of my favorite places in the world. anyone else interested in going? i'll totally go w/you...


next morning i got to see Bubby's dad who was visiting her from Albany. it's been a long long time since i've seen him but he's always fun and since he's a lawyer and successful too, definitely someone i aspire to be like so seeing him's like seeing a mentor-he helped me in deciding law schools, gave me a summer internship, wrote me a recommendation and was always there for advice. Kiks and i went to Costco which is always so addictive for me. i just can't help myself from buying stuff when i'm there. plus Kiks got to see 1st hand my "get out! shut up! no way!" shopping attitude which she also found hilarious. hmm...if only i could see myself doing it b/c everyone seems to find it so funny.

that night i also had a really fun pseudo-date w/1 of my favorite ppl. we went to Kenka and had a really late dinner. i always have a lot of fun w/him but this was 1 of our 1st times out together 1-on-1 (hence the term pseudo-date). i miss the days of being friends w/guys like i was w/O-Henry (once we became platonic-ish) and O. there's only 1 downside about dinner which was that our pseudo-date had to be a secret. it makes it really weird when i truly think about it. i mean, we're not doing anything. i mean, literally, nothing. we ate dinner and talked. is that really something that's got to be under wraps? ok, so yes we are a guy and a girl and yes, other ppl might not get it and those who don't might have their suspicions, but for me it's always been a "who cares" view about all that. people are always gonna talk regardless of what you do, but when you start keeping things secret, you make yourself look suspicious right? o well...maybe i'm just overthinking it and it's his choice plus since we're not anything romantic i'm not gonna make a fuss-but if we were that would be very bad

Spotted

spotted: Lance Bass lounge at a comfy table at One.

haha, ok, that was just the Gossip Girl in me coming out. actually Stitch and i spotted him while we were there waiting for Tina's bday party crew to show up and start. me and her were chilling near what-we-thought-would-be-our-table when Lance's crew walked by me. i had my glasses off (i always feel dorky wearing them in those trendy places. i admit its weird vanity considering what i wear walking around BLS) which meant i gave the impression that i was staring intently at everybody that i might think was cute since i actually couldn't see them clearly unless they were w/in 3 feet of me. when Lance walked by, i looked like the ultimate uncool fan/stalker. i involuntarily did a double-take then kept staring and squinting at him due to my lack of glasses, before finally putting them on and staring some more, then making Stitch look, then both of us looking together, then erupting into giggles after she texted her friend, Just Jared and referencing Gossip Girl (which we both shame-facedly admitted to watching).

prior to One Stitch and i met up for dinner at Nooch, Japanese/Thai restaurant. actually enjoyed the food although i had to stick to an udon soup b/c i was still recovering from the plague. Stitch was ambitious and ordered soft-shell crab as an entree which was just all crab. she didn't finish but it looked good.

the party ended up being shifted next door to Plunge at Hotel Gansevoort because One refused to let most of the party in claiming a lame 3:1 girl to guy ratio requirement. this on top of the fact that Chow, Minchul and Oppa were all purchasing bottles for a table. that's whack. so instead we headed over to Plunge which was easy for us to get into but poor Casper, who was meeting me there, had so much trouble. Plunge has got this crazy system in which in order to get more ppl in the waitress has to tell her manager if you've purchased more bottles to warrant more ppl and if so, the manager will tell the bouncer downstairs who will then allow you to enter to take the elevator to the penthouse. sigh... sometimes i can't believe how reedonkulous NYC lounges are.

i eventually left and, in my insanity, went over to Sing Sing on st. marks for BST's bday afterparty. Chipmunk later met me there (w/my BLS ID which had somehow fallen out of my purse-my hero...) and we all sang a bunch before finally heading home to brooklyn.

Kenka for a 1st date?

Egg and i went shopping for a new laptop for him at Best Buy in Soho before school started. he got this amazing deal on this amazing laptop (i was so jealous that i was stuck w/this one...it's totally started to weird out on me and i'm just hoping Egg will help me fix it somehow). since i was just gonna get jealous of Egg's deal anyway, i decided to wander around and look at all the cool stuff i couldn't afford. and that new Apple desktop? the one w/the amazing screen and the hardware just built into it so there's no tower? well i'm sure if you go to that Best Buy and the floor model's still there you'll see that trail of drool i left where i'd salivated over the whole thing. it's too hot for words.

after we'd made the purchase we called Oni to check on how her date was going. she'd gone on a date w/1 of the speed dating prospects and had asked us to be her out in case it was awful. she didn't pick up the phone and we weren't sure if that meant everything was good/bad so we decided to go to Kenka for dinner and give her a chance to call us while we were still out.

i couldn't have planned a better coincidence b/c once we walked in who did we see but Oni? so we stopped and said hello and the 1st thing she whispers in my ear when she hugs me is, "help me". Egg and i got seated and since there was empty space near us i went over to Oni and her date and asked if they wanted to join us but Oni's too nice to do that. so she toughed it out while Egg and i enjoyed our own dinner. we went all crazy this time: edamame, cold shabu shabu (waitress recommended. pretty interesting and the pork was very tender), wasabi squid sashimi and fried rice w/ketchup. and plenty of $1.50 beers! when Oni finished her date she came and sat w/us and then filled us in on her horrendous date.

w debated about whether Kenka is an appropriate 1st date place. Egg thinks it's the perfect barometer b/c any girl who doesn't like Kenka just isn't for him anyways. but Oni and i agreed that it's too loud and the meal's too quick to really get to know somebody else, especially if you don't really know them at all. but i also agree that eventually whoever i do date's gotta totally love Kenka too. maybe it's more of a 2nd/3rd date kind of place...

karaoke weekend: "the best weekend of my life"

anyone who's been talking to me lately has probably heard the phrase "twins" thrown around a lot (let's thank Oni and Chipmunk for that). regardless, there was this one crazy weekend that started the whole phenomenon off.

on Friday night Oni asked me to go out w/VP and his friends b/c VP had somebody he wanted Oni to meet as a dating prospect. so we all went to ktown and had dinner at Seoul Garden which i'd never been before and was skeptical of, but i have to admit their soonjubu and nangmyon is really good. i think i got a pretty good handle on what kind of food Seoul Garden offers b/c VP's friend, who is visiting and invited his 3 friends all from Japan, decided to order just about everything you would usually order from the menu and we ate family style. we ordered haemul jun (the seafood pancake) and japchae for starters. everybody split bibim nangmyon, nangmyon, soonjubu, seafood soonjubu and bbq ribs. the only thing missing was chigae and the usual korean bbq choices (we opted against bbq, which was a good choice b/c Oni and i went out later and it would've sucked to smell all bbq-ey). i had ordered a budae jigae but they forgot and at that point i didn't want to spend any more money on food, plus nobody was finishing anything at that point.

afterwards, it still being kind of early (9-ish) we went next door to Toto for karaoke. it was all of ours 1st time at Toto and we'd just randomly picked it b/c it was next to Seoul Garden. the room's actually very big which was nice since we were 8 ppl but it's the system they have set up that's the most impressive. the tv screen is ginormous, there's 2 tambourines on the table when you sit down, and the place is BYOB. it's the remote that's the most fun: aside from having a button to create applause, you can also use it to make disco and techno versions of every song you sing. it was a lot of fun to use it on VP's japanese friends b/c they all sang really well so we had to just mess w/them a little. right in the middle of their song Oni would just randomly press the techno button and the song would speed up and VP's friends' eyes would widen but they'd go along w/it anyway. 1 of my favorite moments was after singing Don't Stop Believing i texted Pal and Douglife who were my Hoboken karaoke buddies w/the lyric: "strangers waiting, up and down the boulevard/their shadows searching in the night" and got the reply text from them stating: "streetlight people, living just to find emotion/hiding, somewhere in the night". *giggle*
while there i got a call from the Twins (Chipmunk to be exact) who were on the LIRR into the city. since they were arriving at Penn Station i told them to just meet us in ktown and we would all figure out plans for later. the Twins and their friends went to Off the Wagon and Oni and i met up w/them later. i'd warned Oni of the scene there but since she thought the Twins were cute and it was her 1st time meeting them she was game to at least give it a try. for anyone who's never been to this bar, let me just pre-warn: this is the ultimate college frat party. what's sadder is, i'd been there before. so when Chipmunk was calling me to tell me where they were going and he couldn't give me an address, as soon as he said Off the Wagon i knew where it was. in my defense, Pal and i used to go to Village Ma w/ppl from work for a giant karaoke night and it happened to be right next to Off the Wagon and that's how this bar 1st came into my life. the other escapades were few and far between.

afterwards be bounced to another bar on Yuka's recommendation but since it was around 4 am at that point, everything was closing so the Twins, Oni and i cabbed it back to Brooklyn and the Twins stayed over at my place. tho, once again, i'm obviously getting old, b/c Chipmunk slept on the sofa and Casper in my bed while i slept w/Wifey. and why didn't i just sleep in my own bed? i don't know. it's just kind of hard to articulate in writing. was it cause i'd only met the Twins the week before? or that i'd only known them for a total of 2 days? or am i turning prude? or just too old to sleep w/ppl i don't know? or b/c Casper was grumpy b/c he was annoyed at Chipmunk? sigh...

the next day Twins, Oni and i went out for dim sum at Jing Fong. Casper told me that it was his 1st time there w/o his parents. aaw... o yea, in case my tone hasn't told you already: the Twins are 23. and i always thought that Debs was gonna be the youngest person i would go out w/ (that's not blood-related). anyways, if i make a lot of "aaws" in this posting, it's not my fault. it's instinctual and reflex. since the weather was so gorgeous we walked over to South Street Seaport and just sat around. it was actually a pretty chill time.

eventually the Twins went home to change and get ready for another night out in the city and Oni went to have dinner w/a friend and i got to go home and take a nap (which was much needed although it made me late to meet up w/Stitch at Max Brenner's). Stitch and i headed to Sing Sing and waited for the rest of the crew to get there and start...another karaoke night. yep, you didn't read incorrectly. Um and Stitch and i had planned a week before that we would go out karaoking so that was the scheduled activity. plus, they're hilarious anyway so i just knew that karaoke was gonna bring out something even better. and it did! Um sang bedding songs (all R&B, all about how much he's gonna love you down) which just floored me and Stitch danced to Jordan Knight's Give it to You. CLASSIC. after an hour of Sing Sing i suggested we move to Toto b/c the space is better and it was cheaper w/the amount of ppl we had. so on saturday night, around midnight, i found myself in exactly the same spot in ktown i'd been the night before. who knew? later we got some more korean food and called it a night.

still had a great time tho there was a mini dramatic moment w/Oni and my voice was hoarse for the following week. and that quote used in the title of this posting? it's not mine.

there is one caveat tho. after this weekend, i am completely camera-ed out. the Twins each had a camera, Oni and i had one, and Yuka had one as well. taking the same picture 5 times gets trying after awhile. i noticed on the following weekend there was a lot less of it going around.