happy birthday oppa

still not ready to delve into Gohm's departure so i'm gonna recap Oppa's birthday party instead b/c there are lots of fun pics from that night.

Oppa turned (an-unnamed-age; both for Oppa's sake and b/c i really don't know. my bad) and had a party at Ava lounge on top of Dream Hotel. I really really like this place b/c they don't require table service to get a table on the roof; you just have to make a reservation. unfortunately, we couldn't get the rooftop table b/c our party was too big, but we got a table in the back, which was nice b/c it was secluded from the rest of the bar.

it being Oppa's birthday, it was drinks all around for him. Min got a round of irish car bombs which Chow followed up w/a round of mind erasers. i'm sure there were other drinks being bought but those 2 were enough to get Chow drunk and sick all day the next day (ick-there was this 1 vomit incident that i'll have nightmares about). Gohm seemed to be doing well all night, but when we got back to the apartment he all of a sudden became super-drunk and immediately passed out.

eventually, the BLSers showed up and we danced the rest of the night away before going home. i had a great time and i guess the boys did too b/c they were all wasted by the end of the night. ironically, Oppa was pretty straight b/c he felt he had to be in order to host all the people who were coming from all over.

the last supper

so Gohm is leaving for Cali. not for a vacation, but forever. getting into it at this point is just gonna make me cry so i'm going to side-step that topic right now. instead, i'll talk about the last dinner Gohm and i had on his last night.

originally, we had plans to eat at Ninja, b/c Gohm had been really excited about the restaurant when it had first opened, but after reading reviews of the place (which ranged from cheesy but good food, to cheesy and not good food) we decided to go somewhere else. i suggested EN Japanese Brasserie. i've been dying to eat here for a while so it worked out well. we got the $100 tasting menu for 2 which was a 10 course meal. i can't remember all the courses but i'll recount what i can:

1.tofu sampler: yubu sashimi, yam gelee, fresh made tofu in ponzu sauce
i liked this but Gohm and i weren't too fond of the gelee b/c of the texture.
2. sashimi: o-toro, kampachi and something i didn't recognize
3. creamy avocado and shrimp salad
totally yummy salad drenched in mayo. so unhealthy but so yummy!
4.fried shrimp fritter and fish
5. chicken sausage
6.saikyo black miso cod
7.bershire pork
8.rice steamed w/salmon and topped w/salmon caviar and mint
9. fuji apple sorbet and black sesame ice cream
the sorbet really tasted like apple and the ice cream was so creamy and delicious. Gohm said the sorbet reminded him of his hamani.

we also added a fried chicken small plate as well since Gohm's such a big fan of japanese fried chicken. the meal was great and the setting was gorgeous and tranquil (not too crowded on a monday night at 6:45 pm). the only downside was Gohm got pretty buzzed/drunk from the large warm sake he had at the start of the meal and then the bottle of sake we ordered w/the tasting so he couldn't really eat much after the black cod course.

afterwards we went back to brooklyn to meet w/the BLSers to watch the premiere of transformers at 11:15. i actually really liked the movie except for the ending which was a little cheesy, but i thought for the most part the movie did well balancing some funny w/the action of the film. Gohm was pretty cranky by the end of the night from being tired so it was best we went to bed so he could get rested.

mid-20s

boys will be boys

wildin' out to Britney Spears

so for my birthday i got the idea for a karoake party at Japas 27. we got a great deal for a room for 3 hrs w/all the sushi and drinks we could order. me and the BLS crew headed out and met up w/Gohm and then Spoon, Debs, Kiks and Bubby met us there. it was a great time, singing lots of 80s songs, dancing, and sake bombs all around.

sake bombs!

Egg singing "Oklahoma!" Even Debs got into it!

adidas starting to get a lil' crazy and handsy w/the men

afterwards, we headed towards le banc for some more drinks. unfortunately, Adidas wasn't allowed in b/c he was too inebriated, so the party split up and Gohm and i, along w/Chen and Egg headed back to Brooklyn for more drinks and darts at Buck's before heading home.

me and Chen posing at Le Banc

the next morning, we all headed to Bar Tabac for brunch and all of us were suffering from the night before. still, a great birthday party w/some great people.

i suck at pool

since Gohm's taking a monster nap i thought i'd do some more catching up on past events. so, right near Gohm's UES apartment is eastside billiards, which we were frequenting more often until he and Chow moved. the last time i really played billiards was about a year ago, and it was even longer before that, so suffice it to say i'm not very good. either way we went w/Oppa, Tina and Chow and i was the worst player out of all of them, and by a lot. i think i made about 2 shots in the 3 games i played. ridiculous.

the only thing i could sort of comfort myself about was that Oppa is easily distracted while he's playing so if you mess w/him you can get him to miss some shots. otherwise, Chow and Tina are true sharks when it comes to playing, particularly Tina, so watch out.

AC

so Chow's bday is 2 days before mine so Tina planned a weekend trip to AC for him as a surprise and she and Gohm worked together to get a house for the weekend and invited all his friends to come down. the thursday before Tina and Meegs got all the food for the weekend: they prepared burger meat, bulgogi, duk bok ki, omelette and pancake ingredients for breakfast, bacon, sausage, tater tots, all the yummy stuff and then Gohm and Han brought the food down on Friday day and then they golfed and then waited for all of us to get there. Ming brought ingredients and the equipment necessary for hotpot dinner and Min brought the alcohol. when Chow got there, it was a real surprise which is always a good thing and then the boys all got started drinking like mad men and we all dug into the hotpot.

the 2nd day was pretty nice during the morning and everyone went to play outdoors and on the beach. somehow, Han managed to injure himself pretty badly. i'm still not sure what exactly happened, but all i know is that it involved a football and some trash cans. Han was pretty much on the injured list for the rest of the weekend.

that night we played a bunch of drinking games and i learned a new one called mafia. we all also found out how good of a liar Gohm can be through this game. we all headed out to the Borgata and everyone got ready to either gamble/try to go clubbing. Chow of course headed straight to the poker tables while Gohm, Stitch and i hovered around the roulette tables and i got to gamble for the 1st time ever which was super fun and now i can see why it's so addicting.

we left on sunday and had to drive through a nor'easter. both Gohm and i had never heard of the term "nor'easter" before so when Stitch said it i thought she had made it up but we heard all the news and weather channels using the term so that's how i found out it was a real word.

spring break in cancun

so back in march i got a little spring break time off from school and Gohm and i decided to go on vacation together somewhere. the original plan was to go to the bahamas but after checking potential weather reports, Gohm decided that Cancun would be the better option. so, off we went!
we flew w/jetblue and the only negative thing about the flight was the fact that we sat in the back of the airplane which meant we were surrounded by families and babies/little kids. my initial thought was, "what kind of parent brings their kids to cancun on spring break"? after being there tho, i've come to realize why.

Gohm and i stayed at the Marriot Casa Magna, which was a beautiful hotel w/a very villa-like atmosphere. our hotel room had an amazing view of the beach (some very strategic planning made by Gohm in order to obtain that view). it was a little too late to head towards the beach after checking in so instead we swam at the pool, had a few drinks and then went to dinner. the place we went to made their fresh guacamole right in front of us, which was very refreshing and they had some very strong margaritas and i learned that Gohm+tequila=drunky.

we spent the rest of our time in Cancun just laying on the beach and tanning and swimming. the place is just beautiful and the water is this perfect crystal blue. we had one gigantic meal at the Crab House for our last night. Gohm, a big caesar salad fan, ordered theirs and we saw fresh caesar salad made for the 1st time which was very impressive. we ordered entirely too much food but everything was delicious.

overall, this was a great vacation and the 1st time i'd gone travelling as a couple, so chalk that up to another 1st w/Gohm.

easter hotpot

sigh...sometimes things are just so tough and i don't know why. whenever i get into a relationship, i surprise even myself in how i behave and how things affect me. i don't know why that has to happen.

anyways, so for easter, since Gohm couldn't go home, i decided to have some type of group gathering so he could celebrate it even tho he couldn't be w/his family. luckily, Bubby's a Jew so she didn't have any plans, and Kik's fam was in Maine so I invited them over for a hotpot dinner along w/Egg and Chen. the weather ended up being perfect for hotpot b/c it was right after the nor'easter (a term i never knew btw...i was told it by Stitch and i thought it was some BU term, but then we watched the news and everybody was calling it a nor'easter, so i guess it's a real word) and everything was still damp and chilly. it was Kik's 1st hotpot but she enjoyed it and so did everyone else. afterwards we had some delicious cake from Astoria which Bubby and Kiks brought from a local bakery. the cake was so cute too, saying "happy easter" on it. overall it was a great Easter hotpot and maybe the creation of a future tradition?

a little entourage support?

so i guess i should be thankful that, when needed, the BLSers can be a good source of entourage support, particularly when going out w/Gohm's friends. a while ago, Stitch and Johnson had a birthday party at Earth. we got there early in order to avoid the cover and the place was pretty quiet and tame since it's a restaurant before it turns into a full-blown bar. i had the whole BLS crew there in toto. why you ask? well, Ahjima was rumored to making an appearance at the event since it was also functioning as a giant BU reunion. considering the crowd would be mostly hers, i figured i needed a little support. and i was right. Ahjima did show up, w/her own BU entourage that shot daggers at me all night long. eventually, Wifey was very wasted from mango martinis and Gohm and i escorted her back to brooklyn, and good thing we were there b/c our cabdriver ended up being a very sketchy indian man who wouldn't stop hitting on Wifey.

sigh, this happened a while ago and it was one of the last few times we all went out together and did it up right, aside from my bday party. hopefully w/the summer coming up that'll change.