Back to GN and PARADE

October 29, 2009
I have some class and at 7:00, my mom comes into the city to move everything out so I can move back home. So far it looks like I’m staying in Great Neck and commuting. I move everything and we stop over at Artichoke. On the way back, even though it’s 8:00, there’s loads of traffic. I don’t really do much for the night other than some of Atron’s homework. It’s actually fun reading his comics homework.

October 30, 2009
I wake up late and it’s a lazy day for me. I should really get stuff done instead of just watching TV. I haven’t worked out I forevs. I was supposed to have dinner with Kenny in the city, but it turns out that Corinne is still coming down with her boyfriend and staying at her sister’s apartment, so I’ll be hanging with them tonight.
I miss a train, so I take the 8:51 by driving to Little Neck and taking the LIRR into the city, then the R train down to St. Marks. I meet up with Corinne and Mike at Kenka. It’s a pretty authentic Japanese place and I know that Corinne would enjoy that. We have to wait for a bit because the place is darn busy.
Corinne and I share a bottle of sake because Mike still isn’t 21 and doesn’t really drink. We split little dishes. Fried potato croquets with spicy tartar sauce, fried mackrel, sliced cow tongue, fried gyoza, and fried rice. For desert, we had mochi with green tea ice cream in the middle. It’s been really weird, but I’ve really hated sweets recently. Like I purposely refuse them and actually don’t care for the taste compared to savory goodness. Katie would so love it if she was here having some. It is a nice dinner. We then walk over to her sister’s place in Stuy Town and I say Hi. However, I need to catch the 1:19 and her place is frakin out of the way. I decide to avoid the subway and walk all the way to Penn Station. I leave at 12:35 and I make it with only 5 minutes to spare. Good thing I walked that fast and I jogged a bit of it.
On my way back, I catch up with Atron. I also call Erdem and he actually picks up. I ask him if he’s around since we’ve gone to Astoria at 3:00AM before. He refuses and I tell him that we should get lunch tomorrow. Yea right like we will… Bolanos is apparently throwing a party at his place. I speak to him for a while and then I get back and take the car back home. A nice dinner. I think tomorrow I should be going to the parade with Corinne, her boyfriend, her sister, and friends.

I woke up at 1:00-2:00 even though I set my alarm at 12:00. I guess I haven’t had much sleep recently and I really needed a weekend to recharge. I shmooze around and play some guitar for a few hours. I wait a few hours until I have some Total Protein with skim millk. I ask Hasan if he wants to grab a bite because I want to get out of the house. He says that we can get dinner so I do some reading in the time being.
I meet up with Hasan and we go to Tomi Sushi. We catch up a bit. He seems to be doing okay and the same as usual. Hopefully we’ll be hanging more now that I’m back home. I get home and I decide to go into the city for the parade with Corinne, Mike, Courtney, and her friends. I drive over the the Little Neck Station and take the train. On the way, I find out that they’re hanging at Courtney’s place because it’s pouring in the city. I take the R down to 14th and then the L over to Stuy Town. It’s raining and I get there past 9:00. It’s a nice apartment and I have a drink there. People keeping it casual with that and I’m driving, remember.
We watch Taken while there’s some pumpkin carving going on. I’ve seen Taken with Katie before and it’s an awesome movie. Liam is the shit. We also have the baked pumpkin seeds from the pumpkins, yummy. They’re actually stolen from her complex, but lets keep that sush sush. Somehow Corinne and I decide that I should have kitten whiskers like her. She puts them on me and we take pictures of it. After the movie, I want to catch the 12:19 back and leave at 11:30. On the walk back, I speak to Jonah and Evan to make sure if anything is going on. Turns out that nothing is going on and people seem to be having a wild time because everyone is dressed up. While I’m dressed up regular, at least I have my whiskers.
Will and Jill are out in Brooklyn, but that’s not happening if I have to work around the LIRR, also, I’m already at Courtney’s.
On the train, I run into Kyle from high school who’s banging on the train bathroom door. Turns out that it’s locked and he doesn’t recognize me until I keep repeating his name and he realizes that me and that who else random would know his name. We chat for a bit and he was hanging out with South High people at NYU. I try to find out if anyone back at GN wants to do anything because we have an extra hour. No one.
I get back and just chill out with a few drinks because I’m bored as shit. I grab a smoke, speak to Atron, time for sleep I guess? I think this is how social life is going to work now that I’m back in GN.

November 1, 2009
For dinner, Miah, Kenny, and I get dinner at Aegea because it has a TV for Game 4 of the World Series. I get their Fall salad, which is yummy. It has green, walnuts, granny smith, golden raisins, and raspberry dressing. Afterwards, I need groceries for the commute so we go to Waldbaum’s. It’s closing so I only can grab baby carrots and apples. We speak to Erdem and he needs to take a shower before meeting us at a bar to watch the game.
We go to the bar next to McDonald’s on Northern Blvd. We go in and it’s only has like seven people, all white and not under 30. A waitress or friend of the bartender walks over to ask what we want. I don’t order anything because I’m driving. Kenny orders a Sam Adams and Miah orders a Blue Moon. She talks over and tells the bartender. The guy shouts at our table that we can go to Bell Blvd if we want a Sam Adams. I’m confused by this and I consider it anti-Boston sentiment or something. He tells Kenny to come over to the bar. Kenny only has $5 on him and asks what he can get. The bartender tells him he can get the door for $5 and go to Bell Blvd for that. He sits down and we awkwardly sit around until we decide to leave. It’s a weird situation after Kenny got dealt with like that, Miah not even getting his beer, and the few white people dancing around after repeating some shit country song.
By the time we leave, it’s way weird and it’s fucked up that they guy was clearly messing with Kenny for being Asian since Bell Blvd is in Bayside, where more Asians are. Also, this is a Little Neck pub, you’re going to tell me they don’t have a $5 beer? You can go fuck yourself. Kenny, Miah, and Hasan have been there before and know the relative prices. Anyway, go to Tavern. It’s actually a pretty big place and has a big back area. There’s loads of Halloween decoration still up. There’s a handful of people there watching the game. The bartender is relatively nice. I stick to a Diet Coke while Kenny and Miah get a drink. Hasan orders a gin and tonic when he gets in. The place is pretty cool for serving food. The bartender gives us some chips and actually toaster ovens up some hot dogs and buns when a guy orders.
Into the 7-9th inning, there’s free sausage and peppers offered for the bar. I grab a beer with that. The Yankees end up winning a tight game. Yankee numba one. Can’t wait for them to win and for the parade. After the game, we go home. Apparently Friday is karaoke night, I def want to go.

November 2, 2009
I wake up at 8:20 because I want to be early. I grab some food and I get to the station with a quick easy parking spot. I end up getting to the station 30 minutes early and grab a bagel and cream cheese at the deli. I wait at the Little Neck station for the 9:35 and get to campus by 10:20 for my 11:00 class. For some reason, I’m actually in a darn good mood. I think it’s partly because I recovered on sleep over the weekend.
My class ends at 7:35 and I end up having to take the 8:19 back. Getting back late these days. I actually catch Kenny who jumps on the same train from Flushing. I get home by 9:40ish.

November 3, 2009
I wake up a bit later to do the rinse and repeat. For lunch, I get Subway again. However, it’s hard to eat because I had mad toasted Ciabatta sandwiches over the weekend that ripped up my mouth. I also have a midterm for my Constitution and Minorities class in the afternoon, which isn’t too bad, though I had to scramble during the essay and it isn’t very cohesive. I hope that knowing the terms and basically listing them in an essay is enough.
Afterwards, I work with my partner from class on our event/group project thing. Then I have my ACLU meeting. It’s at 8:00, which means I’m getting home late, but what the heck, I’m Treasurer and there’s yummy Thai food. We discuss some immigration issues and talk about our future meetings. This is while I work on some chicken pad thai, spring rolls with duck sauce, crab/cream cheese ragoons with sweet spicy sauce, and pineapple curry rice. The meeting ends at 9:00 and I get to catch the 9:18 LIRR. I finally get home at 10:00ish and I’m still pretty stuffed by from the Thai food, so no need for dinner.

November 5, 2009
I decide to change it up and take the N20/21 bus to Flushing (25 minutes), then the 7 Express train to the city (50), then the NRW train downtown to NYU (15). On the way there it took about an hour and ten minutes, or took a bit longer on the way back. It’s a bit quicker to drive to the Great Neck LIRR station and the train and then the subway. However, it’s annoying to wake up have to drive and find parking. Then, on the way back, I sometimes miss the LIRR and end up having to wait 30 minutes. I’m lazy and prefer dealing with all that then having to drive. It also saves my mom almost $200 for the monthly for the LIRR.
My laptop is being a bitch by not recognizing the battery and only working when I have it plugged in. It fixes itself here and there, but I don’t know what else to do. I Googled for the fix and tried the options, but nothing is really working.
At the library, I borrow two books. One on Scalia and Justice Breyer’s Active Liberty so I have something to do/read on the commute back home.
I find out that Bolanos is coming back for the parade. We end up going to Tavern at 10:00ish. Right before that, I pregame like a monster and get pretty shwasted. I get into Hasan’s car and I fuckin’ smell like a distillery. At the bar, I get two Bug Lights and a Gusiness. Hasan has class tomorrow and decides to leave so we all need his ride by 12:00ish. Bolanos and I are going to the parade tomorrow morning and Stefan is keeps trying to plan it so that we have to go super early.
I get back and hang around for an hour or so until going to sleep and setting an alarm for 8:40. I had a light dinner and don’t eat anything before I sleep. Gots to rock this diet well.

November 6, 2009
I wake up at 8:20ish when Bolanos calls me and wakes me. He goes to get coffee and comes over to pregame for the parade. We have vodka and coke and coffee and vodka. We drink for an hour or so and start walking to the Little Neck LIRR. We’re pretty drunk and take a 10:50 train I think. We get downtown and it’s crowded as hell. We walk all over the place to find a good spot to see stuff, but we can’t find anything. I have a bottle of Johnny Walker Black Label on me. We put that in the Dunkin Donuts cup with coffee. We finish that pretty quickly and that’s like 6 shots. The people aren’t ridiculous like I’ve seen from the Giants Parade, which is a shame.
We decide that we’ve had enough of this and look for a bar. We find a bar randomly in that area. It’s way crowded and everyone is trying to order drinks… At 12:00PM. Bolanos and I have 2-3 Brooklyn Lagers at $4 a pop. While at the bar, this woman in her 50s or something starts chatting with Bolanos and I. She calls Bolanos handsome or something and grabs his face and stuff. Then she tries to hook me up with her daughter, but apparently I’m not Japanese and too “young” even though she’s 22.
Stefan actually joins us. We sit at this table and I don’t remember the sequence of events, but these two college girls are also at our table. Bolanos chats her up and I’m pretty sure I’m not the best wingman being all drunk. It also doesn’t help that I fell on the ground while we were simply sitting on a bench and pulled the cushion along with me. Nothing happens out of the chats with the cute girls. We meet up with Josh and we go up to a bar in the West Village called Blind Tiger. I’m mighty fucking drunk from all that drinking. I didn’t eat up the night before, didn’t eat breakfast, and didn’t have lunch. We get to the bar at 2:00ish. I don’t order a drink because of the drunkenness. I walk over to Bleecker Street pizza for two slices of Grandma. So good, one of my fav pizza places in the city.
I hang out at the bar and Jonah ends up coming, I’m still hungry and go to Five Guys with Bolanos for a burger and fries. The burger is meh and a bit sloppy. Despite all the food, the alcohol has still hit me and I still avoid drinking and continue being drunk. At night Kenny shows up after work. And Evan also shows. We go over to the liquor store because they want to drink and then we go to Evan’s dorm.
It’s been 5 hours since a drink, yet this shit is still hitting me rough. Once we to Evan’s dorm, I can taste the sour saliva taste in your mouth when you’re about to throw up. Immediately when I get into Evan’s dorm, I know it’s coming. I put my finger in my throat and it just shoots out. I throw up three times and take pictures of it. My gag reflex is usually really bad, but I guess this time I was really due for it. I’m not really drunk, but eating two slices of pizza, a burger, and fries adds up. The combination of liquor is not good and I had to get out of me. Now I feel a lot better. Stefan has left my now. Kenny, Kerri, Josh, Bolanos, and Evan’s roommate all hang in Evan’s room. I go over to Evan’s top bunk and lay down. I don’t really pass out, but resting really helps rejuvunate me.
By 8-9:00ish, we all move out. Kenny goes back home. Josh splits. Jonah and Kerri go to get dinner. Evan and Bolanos are drunk. Actually, Evan is just super drunk. I haven’t had a drink now for like 7 hours and I’m feeling good. However, we walk around all over the place for no reason. Bolanos gets a beer at Pourhouse. Then we walk all over the place. Then we go to a deli and they get food. Evan is so drunk that he drops a Vitamin Water there. We walk to Still just to use the bathroom. We walk around more and run into Josh. We go to a sports bar and I grab a beer. It’s been a super long day so Bolanos and I take the 11:50 train back. We walk back and I stay on the computer for a bit until sleep at 3:00.
I’ve been listening to Howard all the time still and it’s awesome. As for TV, How I Met Your Mother is back, but it’s meh right now. Mad Men recently had my favorite episode. Sons of Anarchy is decent. Modern Family is awesome and like Arrested Development coming back. White Collar seems promising. Always Sunny has still always been the shit.