Running commentary on the things I've seen, the places I've been and what I've done in my measly years. It might help some, entertain others or bore everyone (including me). Regardless, let's get this started...
DRC has turned 1 year older. congrats to DRC! the celebration was 3-fold: dinner at Joya, pre-game at DRC's apartment, the final party at M1-5. the dinner at Joya got botched b/c Joya messed up the reservation so instead we ended up eating at Cafe Chili, which i've never been to before but had heard good things about. the price is slightly higher than Joya but, for me, the quality was comparable, altho the number of options weren't as plenty as Joya's. there's also a whole Italian side of the menu that you can order from, but the prices for those entrees were exorbitant.the real celebration was when the drinking started (of course). by the time we arrived at M1-5, DRC was pretty rocked (as should be expected of the birthday girl). DRC reserved tables and got comped a bottle of champagne and some drink tickets which helped to make my night better and i definitely drank a sufficient amount to the point i kept leaving floaters of Jack and Coke all over the place.
as fun as it was, i'd broken my heel right before we entered the bar (i never even knew that really happened!) and when the party started to move to Williamsburg i decided to forego. it wasn't so bad to go home earlier tho b/c at least i got to share a cab w/Crush <3>
the Ricky Gervais HBO comedy special has been airing more frequently recently and i keep stumbling on it right when he's talking about how stupid blogs are. i can't help but wonder if that's God's way of trying to give me a hint about my own blog. but o well, boo to you God.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you! i can't believe it's another NYE. time is REALLY flying. am home for the holidays, and something's going on with the computer, so forgive me if this post doesn't have the usual bells and whistles as the others.
just the thought of a new year makes me think about the presidential election. talk about a night of "news" (pronounced like "this is brand NEW stuff" as opposed to "let's watch the evening NEWS". get it?). BLS organized an election viewing event in Geraldo's and, honestly, i didn't think THAT many ppl would attend. o how wrong i was. never underestimate the power of free pizza and wings and beer.
while not everyone there was there for intelligent reasons, but it was really kind fo heartwarming to see ppl there, and those that actually were intelligent and excited about the election were the cutest. something about this year's election really got everyone truly excited and back into the way you're supposed to feel when voting. for instance, on the day of the vote, Coleslaw forwarded the CUTEST email from her dad:
Good Morning Beautiful, I just got to work after voting this morning. I arrived at my polling place at 5:05 am and I was 32nd in line. By the time the polling place opened at 6 am, the line was a good 175 to 200 yards long. There were three cops directing traffic…it was so surreal.You'd think they were giving out free money! Even after being 32nd,it took another 30 minutes to vote. I'm glad I decided to get up earlier. I am predicting a landslide for Obama. I just feel it…that many people…in the pouring rain…voting. I have never seen that many people at that voting place even if you combined all the times I have voted there over the past ten years! But you know, the majority of people are voting because of race. Many are voting to put a black man in office and others are voting to keep him out. But at least they're voting. God a feel great!! I shit you not, I haven't felt like this since my Dad held me up over that chain link fence in Brunswick, Maine to shake hands with John F. Kennedy. Goose bumps.We are witnessing a great piece of history in this country. People talk about the "good ole days"…these are those good ole days. I wish you had kids your age to witness this. Just a shear numbers of voters is going to be history! I don't think I can get anything done today.For once I am going to be glued my TV waiting for that acceptance speech. Too bad about Obama's Grandmother. Have a great day at work today and remember this day forever.
Love always, Poppa
wasn't that the cutest? and that's what this election really did feel like. just about everyone was tuned in, everyone had an opinion, everyone sort of cared in one way or another. and then later, after the results were pretty much secured, the election party moved to (where else) Brazen Head. and ppl just honked in the streets and "woo-hooed" all over the place. and when the night was winding down, Coleslaw received an email. and she was so touched and overwhelmed by the moment, she kind of teared a little. the email was this:
I'm about to head to Grant Park to talk to everyone gathered there,but I wanted to write to you first. We just made history.
And I don't want you to forget how we did it.
You made history every single day during this campaign -- every day you knocked on doors, made a donation, or talked to your family,friends, and neighbors about why you believe it's time for change.
I want to thank all of you who gave your time, talent, and passion to this campaign.
We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I'll be in touch soon about what comes next.
no, no, i'm not done with exams or studying. i wish. i've just been repeating the phrase "i'm done" over and over again to a lot of things in my life right now. let's face it, i am a bitch. what's worse is, i'm not a bitch to ppl i don't know. wait, let me correct that, i can be a bitch to ppl i don't know. other times, i just don't even bother acknowledging them. it's the eye-roll, a dismissive glance, and i move on. if i don't like you in the first minute, i probably won't like you at all.
however, that's not the bitch in me that i'm referring to. i'm bitchier in a much meaner way. i'm a bitch to my friends. that's right. how weird is that? i swear, i wasn't always like this. i've always had a twinge of it here and there, but it was never as rampant as it is now. don't get me wrong, i'm still fiercely loyal to my friends and would do almost anything for them (save lend large sums of money or kill someone), but i often find myself feeling tired or just overwhelmed when i talk to them. i'm constantly letting out exasperated sighs when i'm by myself.
for instance, Nellers and i have known each other since preschool, altho we didn't become friends until 4th grade. but after that, even when we were separated by different schools, we still stayed close. and that lasted through college. what i really think is that college wore me down. i would never admit this to OHenry, but sometimes i agree with him that going to Smith might've been a mistake. b/c a whole school of girls=a whole school of drama, backstabbing, complexes, etc. and i dealt with that for 4 years. however, just to prove how devoted i was back in the day to maintaining friendships: i was the best at phone calls to check in with ppl, no matter the distance; thoughtful gifts for momentous occassions (not to mention christmas and birthdays-and when i say thoughtful, i do mean thoughtful, every gift was a personal reflection of the person or something going on in their life); cheer packages just for the hell of it; at least 1 visit to wherever they were every year (aside from seeing each other when we were home for the holidays). over time, reality set in, and i started to change. and the Ahjumma incident happened (TWICE-i blame her a lot for this. for the most part, my dating relationships have never scarred me-sans Gohm, and even that wasn't actually traumatizing, more like a learning experience-but what did traumatize me is Ahjumma, who was a friend. truly they're the ppl that hurt you the most). by the time college was over, aside from my family (which has grown quite large), the holidays and birthdays were the only time i bought gifts for friends, and that list only included OHenry, Nellers, and Debs.
2 yrs after college, OHenry was whittled down to only holiday gifts. and by the time law school started, that practice was long gone. and this year is the 1st year i haven't visited him in Cali. and now we pretty much never talk on the phone. i found out he was in NJ over Thanksgiving from Debs (who saw it on Facebook) because he sure as hell didn't tell me. ::sniffle, sniffle:: and now the process is starting w/Nellers too. i prob haven't talked to her since the summer, and even that encounter had been brief. and she's been whittled from the birthday gift list too. and with the holidays coming up, i'm debating whether to purchase a holiday gift for her. she recently called me out on this phenomenon (albeit on Facebook, which kind of irked me). and my immediate response was, "really? do we have to be this dramatic?" i was struck with a sudden wave of tiredness and a desire to avoid drama.
and it felt normal. Nellers is in med school in D.C., i'm in law school in Brooklyn. obviously both our schedules are tiring, we're travelling in circles unknown to each other, have no money to visit each other, and have no daily interaction to bring our worlds together right now. these are often the ingredients for creating a more distant friendship. and this is exactly what i told her. but i can't help but have that voice in the back of head, telling me, "really? after over 16 years of friendship, this is how you feel?"
i wish baggie pants were back in style. in middle school, i used to wear these baggy jeans that hung low, but not SO low, on my waist and always with a baby tee. yea, i was suburb gangster. although the look was totally ridiculous, while bringing a water and coffee from my apartment down to Geraldo's today, i was wishing the look was back in style. b/c then i could put my water in my back pocket instead of having to hold it in my hand. just this week i had the same dilemma with a can of soda.
sometimes my life in my apartment seems to center around cooking and emptying the dishwasher. i'm like a PTA mom.
the ppl next to me seem to be bonding. i can't tell, i have my iPod on. the boy had set up his study station and then slowly realized he was sitting right under a vent (he's still looking up at it even right now). the girl looked up and i guess made some comment, they conversed, and he pushed his table closer to her. then he asked her for a pen. and now, with the vent still blowing on him, he keeps looking forlornly at the girl and the empty spot next to her. and they're COMPLETELY distracting me. i don't make friends during exams. i hate everyone during exams. except for ppl i'm already friends with. when ppl i don't know fuss around in public spaces while i'm studying, i want to punch them in the face.
as i watch Baby Boom i'm reminded of the fact that to be a good human being, you must love babies. if you look at a cute baby and don't go, "aaaaaaaaaaaw," then you're truly dead inside. i'm sorry, but it's the truth. i'm not gonna lie and say there aren't ugly babies out there, but they're pretty few and far between. for the most part babies are just adorable. sigh, i can't wait to get one of my own. altho, as i've always freely admitted: giving birth scares the crap out of me. it truly does. just thinking about it makes my vajayjay twinge a little.
if you've noticed, i've kind of stalled out on updating recently. it's just been either too crazy, or too boring right now. and altho it's finals period for me, it's not like the usual finals period where i'm holed up studying and staring at outlines. this time i'm actually frought with deadlines for designing webpages, revising memos, and preparing for fake divorce mediations. so this past 2 weeks have been actually quite busy and i've been on the computer constantly, but not in a fun way. even at this moment, i should be revising my summary judgment memo. i'm just 2 pages away from finishing, and it's due today, but i'm still taking a break to write this.
so why i have i been remiss in updating? to be honest, i feel like things in my life have hit a wall. a predictable, unending, circular wall. sometimes i feel like i'm even having the same conversation over and over again. and it makes me want to throw my hands up in the air and put a stop to it all. except i can't. this is my life, and i must accept it. it's not like i can afford to just drop everything and start again somewhere new. it's just not possible, and i am a believer in your life is what you make it. if you're not happy, it's up to you to change it because nothing solves itself and things don't just go away on their own. hmmm... even this paragraph is circular logic because i've just talked myself back to the beginning of my problem.
but it's 2 AM and i'm too tired to figure that out right now. what i should be doing is finishing this revision. it's what i should be doing...
i'm not usually a Halloween person. i tend to like to go trick-or-treating with my little sis or other kids but other than that i'm not a big dress-up-for-Halloween kind of person. so it's surprising that i broke the mold this year, but i did. my intention was to construct a costume where i didn't have to purchase anything additional and wouldn't have to spend much time getting ready or preparing. and i succeeded in that. however, the final result was a little...mixed. the only reason i dressed up at all was to attend the BLSPI talent show. i had a great time last year, and this year was no exception, altho the set-up this year felt a little sloppier than last year. regardless, there's always a few costumes that ppl come up with that i find truly ingenious. for instance, Egg was the guy from No Country For Old Men, and what's even more impressive is that he came up with the costume and idea only a few hours before he showed up at the event. yes, there was a Juno and Bleeker, which was cute but i didn't think it deserved to win. and when i showed up in the city, apparently it wasn't that novel of a costume idea either, because there were more than a few Junos and Bleekers. after drinking our fill of beers and wine, we headed over to the after-party at Mansion, which was held jointly with surrounding law schools. the turnout was actually really good, but then the downside was of course how packed it was because so many ppl showed up. i could see why the planners picked Mansion as the venue, and it was adequately big, but i think i've outgrown places where i can't move around without almost getting into a fight with someone because it's so packed. if you know me, i'm not usually out to start a fight (plus i'd probably get my ass whooped), but i did almost get into 2 fights that night, both times with obnoxious girls. go figure. i promise i don't go out seeking confrontation but if you want to start it, i'm not gonna just run away, even if you could kick my ass.speaking of ass kicking, what the hell is going on with this brooklyn neighborhood. this is my 3rd year living here and i've never encountered any violence or shadiness but all of a sudden 2 ppl i go to school with got their asses kicked and mugged for no reason. granted, 1 of them was while he was out in the LES, but the other 1 was right on Boerum Place while the poor guy was walking home from the BLS library. that's completely unacceptable. and so sad. that poor boy. and apparently it took place around 10 pm on saturday night, which you would think, since he was less than 3 blocks away from our apartment building, he could get back and forth in relative safety. word is that it was a gang of little 16 yr old boys who stole his phone and wallet and maybe an iPod. wtf is going on? it just breaks my heart a little, particularly since he's Six's friend which makes it hit even closer to home. in light of the above, i should consider myself very lucky for having gotten home safely after the party at Mansion around Halloween. the place was just too overwhelming and pricey ($40 for 2 mixed drinks) and DRC was too wasted and Cubed was too somber and i just wanted to leave. so i said my goodbyes and bounced out before i could be talked into staying, which is pretty stupid considering it was around 1:30 am and i was definitely not completely sober. how not sober was i? as i was walking towards the subway from Mansion, first i realized i walked in the wrong direction, which is always bad news in the Meatpacking District. then i turned back around, but couldn't find my iPod and believed i lost it so i was determined to go to the 24-hour iPod store in Columbus Circle to buy another one (i even called Egg for directions). i hopped into a cab only to find my iPod in my bag while in the cab so i promptly hopped out and found myself in Ktown where i bought some kimbap and soda and took the subway home. it was a weird mini-adventure to have. did i mention i was wearing my Halloween costume the whole time this was happening? o yea, my costume. i had planned to just go as a catholic school girl since that only requires a plaid skirt, a tie, a sweater vest/cardigan, and mary janes and i happen to have all those things (sans the sweater vest). but when i showed up, ppl kept trying to guess what i was and every time it was something different: a kindergardener, a Harry Potter character, Cho Chang from Harry Potter, a Japanese school girl, etc. so every 10 minutes i kept changing what i was.
Paul Giamatti walked by me on Boerum Place. what was really weird was that i had just been watching his movie Shoot 'Em Upon HBO the night before. and he couldn't have looked any more different from the character he played. o well, it was still a little thrill to see him. i guess it's one of the perks of living in NY. i was pretty surprised at myself for not turning into a simpering, shrieking idiot which is what i always think will happen when i see a celebrity. and it never does. weird.
BLS had a fundraising event at Ceol on Smith Street right before the weather started getting cold. what was even better was that ILS had their Mentor-Mentee event in Geraldo's right before with free beer. so of course we were all in Geraldo's maximizing the free beer before we headed out to the bar. we even got into a game of Kings, which is my favorite drinking card game. i like it because, unlike Asshole, it doesn't require too much thinking, but unlike Up the River Down the River, it doesn't require no thinking either. plus it's interactive and gets people really into the game since just about every turn involves getting somebody else involved. we don't play Kings too much tho, because everyone gets so turned off at the thought of learning the rules. here's what i've interpreted to be the simple, no nonsense, rules. of course there's way more complicated ones, but i'd stick to these when you're dealing with ppl with short attention spans who don't look convinced: 2 is for You 3 is for Me 4 is for Whores (yes, it's un-PC but it's an easy rhyme to remember) 5 is Social 6 is for Dicks 7 Heaven 8 Thumbmaster 9 Bust-a-Rhyme 10 Categories J Never Have I Ever Q Questions K Kings Cup A Waterfall
ok, i think that's pretty much the general gist of how we played. after the game, we finally headed over to Ceol which was reedonkulously packed with BLS kids but that's to be expected. it was a pretty random night, and since i had class the next day, i left at a respectable hour.
but not before i introduced Seven to JAK. as soon as i'd walked into the bar and i saw Six, i was informed that Seven was very interested in JAK and was dying for the introduction. so before i left the bar that night, i made the introduction and then left those 2 little hipsters to their own devices.
to go along with this lovey-dovey theme, i thought i'd post this video. it's a korean song by Humming Urban Stereo called Hawaiian Couple. the song's already really cute and catchy and the video's just as adorable. this keeps popping up on my iPod and i just can't help but bop around with it.
and who says big corps don't have a conscience? altho i don't think it really counts because voting, while i applaud the efforts, has become such a fad. it's like when P.Diddy did Vote or Die and Paris Hilton was 1 of the promoters and then she blatantly admitted she didn't vote. posers.
the family came into Chinatown for a haircut and dim sum on the weekend so of course i went to meet them. we ended up trying a dim sum place recommended by the stylist close to Bowery and Hester. eh... even tho Jing Fong doesn't cook their dim sum in the healthiest fashion all the other properties definitely win over all the places i've been so far: they have the best and widest selection, the best and fastest service, and the price is equal to all other places. i think it's best to stick to Jing Fong for dim sum.
afterwards i walked around with my parents while they did a little grocery shopping. my mom's under the impression that the groceries in Chinatown are fresher than in jersey. i think it all depends on where you shop. it looks like it's lobster and crab season and the prices on shelled seafood is pretty low so i got 3 stone crabs for $10, which is a great deal. i decided to steam 2 of them and then i got an idea. there's a delicious dish where you steam seasoned crab with rice which infuses the rice with the crab flavor and it's super delicious. i was all ready to do it except...
...the crab was still alive. and it really freaked me out. i mean, it was all lethargic and definitely on it's way out, but still. and every time i got close to it with the knife i kept imagining it would all of a sudden jump up and attack me, as if it was laying in wait for it's revenge just for me to put my face close up to it. it was kind of scary. for some moral guidance and physical courage i asked Egg to come over so i could ask his opinion about it. boy did i ask the wrong person for bravery support. Egg took one look at what i was contemplating about doing and told me how scary it was. and how cruel it was. and once he got started, it was all over for me and i just gave up on the idea and steamed it. we discussed how next time i'm contemplating this dish i should just have them pre-cut the crab for me.
i will not be dissuaded. i will make this dish. just with pre-cut crab.
the real celebration was when the drinking started (of course).
as fun as it was, i'd broken my heel right before we entered the bar (i never even knew that really happened!) and when the party started to move to Williamsburg i decided to forego. it wasn't so bad to go home earlier tho b/c at least i got to share a cab w/Crush <3>
