if you love something, set it free...

my last duties as Co-Social Chair of APALSA was the Alumni Dinner. and luckily i didn't have to do much b/c the Alumni Chairs took care of most of it. the only thing i had to really plan or take care of was the after party at Floyd's. the set-up was long and tedious but once that was all taken care of and the dinner started i was completely free to do what i wanted and passed off all duties to the new e-board. so i proceeded to get rocked.

i was so excited to eat the food and hadn't really eaten anything that day so that i could eat all the food. i even got a mountainous plate. and then i got sidetracked somehow. don't ask me how, i can't remember. i don't know how time just flew by but it did and then i had to hurriedly go downstairs and change and head over to Floyd's to set-up the drink deal and tickets with the bartenders. and i ended up not eating any of my food. that just blows.

i remember the beginning of Floyd's. i remember saying "hi" to ppl and forgetting my wallet. yet somehow, i got more rocked as the night progressed. even tho i had no money. interesting. i'm sure there was a lot of generous drink-buying going on b/c i know i had a lot of jack and cokes. any pics taken at Floyd's on my camera are ones i have no memory of.

there was something that happened that night that i do remember tho. and good thing i did. ManEater was out at Floyd's and all the 2L APALSA guys were fawning over her and i noticed Crush hovering on the edges of that crowd of fawning boys. i happen to run into ManEater on the way to the bathroom and we have this convo where she reveals that she thinks Crush is really cute (naturally i agree) and i reveal i have a Crush on crush too. being younger than me ManEater immediately starts eating her words and backtracking but i assure her it's alright: after all, he's obviously like-able or else i wouldn't like him right? who wants a crush that when you tell ppl they give you that "blech" face? through some other weird twist of events i end up being at the bar standing next to Crush and we start chatting. i mention i noticed him noticing ManEater and (in a moment of complete selflessness) i reveal to him that ManEater's definitely interested and he should go over and talk to her. he's kinda shy and takes his time so i give him a few more pushes of encouragement and they're off! and they've been a couple since.

i guess the old adage is true: if you love something, set it free. if it comes back to you, it's yours. if it doesn't, then it never was. ok, so i do understand the logic behind the saying. but i'll admit this: whenever you do "set something free" you do so always hoping that they'll come back and it sucks when they don't.

hello jersey!

this NYT article caught my eye: it's all about rebutting the Asian-American concept of a Model Minority.

um, if only they'd read my seminar paper from undergrad. i wrote a whole paper on the topic! harumph, if only i'd submitted it to the NYTs. maybe i'd be published by now.

my favorite Oppa (ok, my only oppa-or at least the only guy i call oppa) just purchased his 1st apartment. congratulations! such an adult now; it's mind-boggling. b/c he's just so popular (and some inter-friends politics in additional the size of his apartment), he had to have multiple house-warming parties. i was invited to 1 of them and brought Coleslaw w/me to jersey city to see the new place. i have to give props to Coleslaw who was very gung-ho about going at 1st, then she found out it was in jersey. but like the classy person she is, she sucked it up and didn't back out (tho i wouldn't have blamed her).

we take the PATH train from WTC to the Exchange Place stop and head out. of course, i don't have directions to Oppa's place but i figure i'll just call him and he'll lead the way since he says it's not far from the station. however, why is it that boys always give directions by using terms like north, south, east, west? do i carry a compass on me? i don't think so. so then Oppa tries to tell me to go towards the water vs. away from the water etc. this is also no good. from now on, let's just use the name of the street and a well-known landmark like the Au Bon Pain or the diner/deli on the corner etc. please, for my benefit.

Oppa's place is pretty impressive. immediately i noticed the super high-tech elevator the building has. it announces the floor that you press and lets you know when you arrive. it also tells you it's leaving and what direction it's going in after you've exited it. thank you Ms. elevator. i like to keep up-to-date on these things. his apartment is set up super-bachelor-y which means ginormous flat screen TVs (1 in the living room and 1 in the bedroom). the view's pretty nice. it's got a washer and dryer in the apartment (which i am completely envious of-i would love to not have to lug around my giant laundry bag or make all those trips down to the basement or share and wait for machines). 1 of the best features of the building is the rooftop. they've got it done up snazzy (to the point that they're thinking of opening it up for commercial events): it's got a bar, a jacuzzi, outdoor showers; basically the works. Oppa is very correct that it is definitely a PD for guys: if you bring a girl up there her panties will most likely drop.

Coleslaw and i drank frequently and although there was no plans to stay over, that's what ended up happening. this probably wasn't the best idea b/c i had to wake up super early to meet my parents at 9 am in Chinatown. we only barely made it, and i still had to go home and shower and change. it was cute tho when we got off the PATH and my dad happened to call right at that moment. i told him we were in front of the WTC and he offered to pick us up and take us back to Feil.

i don't think any of my friends since college have really met my parents let alone had to be picked up by them in the car. it was very cute to see Coleslaw sitting in the back and i introduce her to my dad and she greets him w/a "nice to meet you Mr. Ma." i couldn't help but giggle.

beautiful days

it's the start of the summer weather, which (before this ginormous heatwave) was so pleasant and a welcomed change from the cold weather. in celebration of such, Egg and i went to the Brooklyn Bridge Park for a picnic w/some friends.

before i did that i had to stop and pick up my glasses from an apartment close to k-town (i'd left them there the previous weekend when me and the girls had gone over to hang out). i'd been suffering through the week because i couldn't see distances. while there, i stopped into Han Ah Reum, my favorite korean grocery store to pick up...the giantest combination of sashimi ever. it was so delicious. i didn't eat it until later that night for dinner.

Coleslaw and them had been at the park for at least 2 hrs before Egg and i got there but there was still plenty of hummus and crackers, cherries, pretzels and potato salad for us to snack on. Egg and i had stopped at the market in DUMBO and picked up a 6-pack of Kronenberg and some sliced pineapple (amongst my favorite fruits). the park was pretty crowded w/ppl playing frisbee and tossing the football but it was perfect weather and as always the view is beautiful.

afterwards we walked through DUMBO looking for a milkshake but Bubby's was closed and the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory had a line that was insanely long-and i mean insane. longer even than the lines i've seen for Pinkberry in the summer. we eventually sidled up to Montague Street and stopped into Haagen-Daz instead. i made the mistake of getting their soft-serve which was more the density of very frozen yogurt. not yummy.

it was a perfect comfortable summer lazy day that ended w/drinks at Brazen while DRC and Cubed watched the Pistons vs. Celtics game.

my dance crew vs. your dance crew

Michael: I ran down Meredith in my car.
Ryan: Did you do this on purpose?
Michael: No, I was being negligent. But she's in the hospital. She's fine, recovering nicely. Tiny little crack in her pelvis. But she will be up in--
Ryan: Did this happen on company property?
Michael: Yes. It was on company property with company property, so ... double jeopardy. We're fine.
Ryan: I don't think you understand how jeopardy works.
Michael: Oh right, I'm sorry. What is, "We're fine?"

hee, hee... i stole the above from Bear's away message and maybe i just find it funny b/c we're in finals mode but either way i do. occassionally i'm a law school nerd. deal w/it.

argh...i hate finals mode. and as a distraction, i'm catching up on posts from days of yore. and just to show how "yore" this post is: it relates to Crush. so that's how long ago it is.

on a random friday night, DRC, Coleslaw and i were too lazy to do anything big, but wanted to do something. so we gathered up Egg and She and we headed over to Brazen which ended up being pretty jumping w/BLSers. there had been vague plans to head into the city for a party being thrown by CabbagePatch but we were too lazy...that is, until we got a text that Crush was there. and DRC being the hilarious home-girl she is, told me she would go w/me if i wanted to go. so i booked it home, changed into more city-appropriate clothes and make-up and we hopped a cab over to Galway Hooker just so i could "casually" bump into Crush. now if that isn't the most high-school-crush behavior, i don't know what is. however, i did find out that Crush has a dance crew, as do i.

i'm sure everyone's gotten into the crazy of America's Best Dance Crew and it was after watching that show that DRC came up w/the idea to form our own dance crew. so we did. and it's called Redonky Kong. what what!! we haven't really done anything but we're always avidly recruiting, if you're interested. of course you'll have to try out. it turns out Crush has a dance crew too, full of gangly asian guys and 1 white guy. we will battle. o yes, we will.

there i was, trying to be all non-chalant but still strike up a convo w/Crush. i also took a moment to try and not be so obvious so i introduced myself to 1 of his friends. here's what happened when we spoke:

"hey, i'm _____. i don't think we've ever met."
"hi, i'm BFF. you're name's ______? oh, i've heard it before."
"really?! from who?"
"Crush has mentioned your name before. he even mentioned you earlier today."

i just about fell on the floor. of course i couldn't contain myself and told him he better not be messing w/me and instantly confessed my crush on Crush. he assured me he was being honest and i was extremely happy. so i sidled over to Crush to continue our "non-chalant" convo when he started to make moves to leave the bar. luckily for me BFF came to my rescue and offered to buy everyone 1 last round before we left. when he came back w/drinks he slyly whispered in my ear,

"you totally owe me. i just saved your ass."

and it was true. w/o BFF, Crush would've left! thanks to his good work we all ended up staying until Galway Hooker closed and by coincidence LambFrenzy was at the bar across the street and we all took cabs back to Brooklyn. we were 9 ppl total so we split into 2 cabs and i took the opportunity to be in Crush's cab. and since we were 5 and the other 2 ppl in the back were girls, i took the opportunity to sit on Crush's lap. i mean, what could i do? it had to be done so we could all fit. ahem...yea, right.

however, i totally botched it afterwards b/c then BFF and i really did become BFFs. we were like 2 girls gossiping at a slumber party and i stopped focusing on Crush so i could get the dirt on him. but hey, i've admitted that when i get high school crush-y i end up talking to everyone except for my crush. it's just the way it is.

Maternal Instinct

i had Trial Advocacy final exams the saturday after my birthday (which blows) which also made it so that i couldn't really do anything over the weekend to do a big birthday blow-out. this still ends up working out well tho b/c considering exams are May 1st it's much better to reserve the current time for studying and have a birthday party after exams. and that's what the plan is.

let me preface this by saying i love my friends. since i couldn't have a party my good friends decided to have a nice dinner instead. o wait, i'm getting ahead of myself. so the friday before my Trial Advocacy i was pretty much focusing on preparing for my final-which was a mock trial and i had to be on the defense side of a rape case-but i got a call from Coleslaw who had just gone to see Forgetting Sarah Marshall which i couldn't go to b/c i had to meet my defense partner. however, i didn't have to miss out b/c Coleslaw called to invite me to go watch the movie w/her. no, you didn't misread that. Coleslaw was willing to watch the movie two times. in a row. she thought the movie was that awesome. and i won't lie: it was pretty damn good.

"Snuffle-of-a-gus fucks my shit up"

ok, now we're up to speed. so for my quiet birthday celebration we went to dinner at Noodle Pudding which i've never been to. totally worth it. yummy yummy italian food and such a lively atmosphere (sometimes to the point of noisy) but totally worth it. i had the yummiest linguini puttanesca and a bottle of pinot noir for only $26! we were debating on ordering dessert but then Egg revealed that he had a surprise dessert for me at home so we decided to forgo dessert and head back to Feil. however, Coleslaw and i did partake in a shot of limoncello. yummy. i haven't had that since i was in Bologna visiting Nells.

turns out Egg bought me the cutest and densest chocolate birthday cake. it was adorable. and then we started to watch crazy youtube videos. we watched little kids playing guitar hero, little kids dancing to thriller, and Unicorn Planet. and then somehow the convo turned to how there is a website for every fetish that a person could have (i don't remember how this conversation happened). and Coleslaw, as an example, used cast fetishes. and none of us believed her so we googled it. and it turns out, yes, there are many websites devoted to cast fetishes. just to clarify, a cast fetish is when a person gets turned on by watching girls who have casts scratch them-the cast that is,not the person watching. weird.

in case you didn't realize this, i'm kind of a frail little girl. whenever the weather changes drastically i inevitably get sick b/c i never wear the right clothes. so on birthday dinner night i wore the cutest dress with a cardigan but it ended up being a little balmier and windier than i thought. and so i got sick. blech. and that turned into strep throat so double blech. however, what really freaked me out was when my mom called me on monday night. i'd decided not to tell her i was sick or else i would get a scolding about how i always let this happen etc. so when she called, in my most normal voice, i answered, "hello?"

and her immediate response was, "so you're sick huh?"

it totally took me by surprise! i immediately responded with "how did you know?" and she replied b/c i always get sick when the weather changes like this so she just knew i was. but i still found it eerie and an example of how strong a maternal instinct can be.

It Wasn't Planned, I Swear!

i've been deathly ill again except this time was a little bit different. i actually had strep throat. crazy. i finally broke down and went to the doctor's today and am happy to be on antibiotics. Coleslaw was right, as soon as i took them i instantly felt better. hooray for drugs!

before all this finals craze started, i got a call from DRC. who was very drunk. so essentially i got drunk-dialed. turns out she and Coleslaw had gone to trivia night at Geraldo's. i actually have a beef to pick w/SBA and this stupid trivia night thing. they always advertise it as "Kung Fu Trivia." now, let me ask you, what comes to mind when you see or hear that? you would naturally assume that all the trivia is related to kung fu right?? well that's what i thought anyways. turns out it's not. and there's no real rhyme or reason to why they call it that. someone just liked it. LAME. what happened to truth in advertising? ok, my bad, sidebar. back to the story.

so DRC's drunk-dialed me to call me down to Geraldo's to drink w/a bunch of them who stayed after trivia night. i turned her down and opted for Top Chef and some reading. but then i realized i was watching Top Chef on Crush's date night and opted to go down to Geraldo's after all, otherwise i would get all obsess-y. i got there and encountered extreme drunken revelry with a keg and all.

turns out the gang had been watching South Park earlier and had decided to play a drinking game where they would drink every time the word "internet" was mentioned. good thing the whole episode was about the internet. so yea, everyone was a little tipsy. then there were games of Up the River, Down the River and a very tedious game of Asshole and then there was a group decision to go to Brazen Head. so we all headed to Brazen Head and by that time it was after midnight and technically my birthday. so shots and more drinks and the rest of the night passed in a blur.

Coleslaw, DRC and i walked back to Feil and all stopped in to Coleslaw's to rehash the convos of the night (which are always sordid and hilarious). DRC were sitting on the sofa when all of a sudden i hear a very forlorn sigh come from Coleslaw's bed. DRC and i look over and we see Coleslaw snug as a bug in a rug in her bed making these really sad sounds. we dash over to check on her-actually i dash over, DRC went to the kitchen to make a cream cheese bagel-and Coleslaw just tells us we don't understand but that she's fine.

it was very weird but funny. what made it funnier was that the next day she had no idea what she had been so forlorn about.

Pioneer

Stitch is amongst the valorous and brave few of my Manhattan friends that ventured into Brooklyn Heights last week. i'm so proud of her.


i haven't seen Stitch in months so it was a really good experience to see her again. so much has happened since when i last saw her (which was when we both saw Lance Bass at One if i remember correctly). we went to dinner at Lunetta which is a restaurant that seems to have been getting a lot of buzz lately but has been open ever since i moved to Brooklyn. we decided to go all out for the meal even tho both of us are in tight monetary situations right now. i truly do believe in this kind of going-out-to-eat philosophy: since you're already out, might as well take advantage and eat food that you would never be able to make yourself and is delicious.


we split a bottle of red wine (around $45 for the bottle-can't remember the name but it was light like a pinot noir but w/a slight robust flavor), and Lunetta's definitely got a very Italian-centric choice of wines that ranges from very affordable $26 a bottle to reserve bottles that go into the $100+ per bottle. since Lunetta's technically small plates, Stitch and i ordered 3 mains and split those and the waiter was very accomodating and made sure to serve each plate in courses vs. plopping them all down on the table at the same time. we started w/the gnocchi which was served in an amazing ricotta and tomato sauce. that was followed by the orrechiette w/rapini and sweet sausage which was also delish, especially since it was topped w/a liberal helping of parmesan cheese on top. lastly we had the berkshire pork belly which was salty but in a good way and was the perfect end to the meal. i definitely want to eat at Lunetta again and try their various kinds of bruschetta and maybe leave room for dessert too. as such, Stitch and i were stuffed by the end of our meal and skipped out on dessert.


the end of our meal was perfectly timed so that we could go meet the future SBA at Trout which is about 5 mins from Lunetta. the SBA-ers were getting food tho so Stitch and i sat at the bar and ordered drinks. i ordered a Jack and Coke, and like the pretend hard-ass i am, after sipping my drink for a bit, i asked the bartender to add some more Jack b/c it tasted kind of light. he arched his eyebrow at me and said,

"oh really? are you sure it's not just light for you but regular for everyone else?"

i sheepishly said yes, and he added some more Jack to it. then DRC came bouncing over and asked for a margarita, with extra tequila. he looks at me and then her and asks, "are you sure? because ppl always ask for that but then complain that their margarita tastes only like tequila and nothing else."

DRC re-assures him that she is not one of the ppl and he makes her a strong margarita. as a joke, she calls him back and goes, "excuse me, but this margarita tastes like tequila!" we all get a good laugh and she bounces away. only i turn back to the bar and the bartender has now poured 4 shots of tequila for us! i look around for a savior and recruit Egg to come to my aid and try to politely decline the shot but since it was from the bartender's good will i couldn't kindly refuse.

and we all know tequila's my kryptonite. so after that we all headed over to Brazen but at that point i was barely able to stand up on my own and i had a drink or two before i quickly ducked out and into the safety of my bedroom.

on a scale of 1 to 10

"so on a scale of 1 through 10, in terms of attractiveness, what would you rate me?"

this is the question i harassed my guy friends with this weekend. hey, don't judge me. everyone needs a little reassurance some times. so what prompted this sudden self-esteem questioning?

ok, let me give a little background. while yes, i'm 25 yrs old (soon to be 26-yikes), i am still attending law school, and no matter how old or mature you may think you are, when you're in school, you're really in school. it's like college (sometimes even high school) but the age range of the students is much higher. and as happens to every girl in school, i have developed a little crush. let me re-emphasize the term LITTLE. yes, LITTLE. it's a totally hopeless crush (as they all tend to be-hence the term crush, otherwise a more suitable term like "like" would've been used) so if i do know you and you read this and i happen to see you, let's not delve into the question of "who is it?" because it's so silly.

regardless, Crush was at a birthday party i attended. here's a little-known fact about me: when i have a silly crush on someone (as is this case) i find it impossible to have normal interaction w/them. i literally revert back to high school where i have no idea how to be normal with that person. so instead i just ignore them for the most part. which is exactly what i did. i talked to everyone else there but not Crush. this worked for a while.

until i blacked out.

argh...i truly truly hate blacking out. anyone who knows me already thinks i'm goofy and reedonkulous and that's when i'm sober and conscious of what i'm doing. now imagine me just doing and saying whatever pops into my head. scary, right? i'm pretty sure that's what happens to me when i black out. and for all my friends, i'm taking this moment to say SORRY!!!!

some time during this party, i just hit the wall and everything after that point is one big blank. i've managed to piece together a few things from eyewitness testimonies:

1.i engaged in a conversation w/Crush, the contents of which i've gleaned was extremely embarassing. needless to say, i will not be able to look Crush in the eye from this moment on.

2.right after talking w/Crush, i became a stumbling mess. i apparently walked into the table and bumped into walls. then i went to the bathroom and Mouse, also extremely inebriated, followed me to help me hold my hair under the impression i was going to the bathroom to throw-up. once inside i let her know i was only in the bathroom to pee and Mouse felt embarassed but was too drunk to exit the bathroom. she recently apologized to me and wanted to reassure me she wasn't weird but since i have no memory of the incident it seems things all worked out.

3.i have a cut right above my left butt-cheek. no one has been able to shed any light as to how that got there.

4. there is a dispute about whether Mouse or Crush spilled beer on me.

and that's that! all i know is i woke up in Coleslaw's bed at 6:40 am with no idea about how i'd gotten there.

also, i dropped my phone into the toilet (never put your phone in your back pocket). it was wonky for the rest of the weekend but is hopefully back on track now. i've been letting it rest for now and we'll see what happens.

p.s.-just in case you were wondering, my guy friends being the good ppl that they are, all gave me positive ratings on a scale of 1-10.