Christmas Season

December 19, 2011
I go to the mall. I spend a decent amount of time there, almost 4-5 hours. I actually don’t get much done though. I get a sweater for grandma. I return some clothes I bought online that were too big. After so much time in the mall, I realize how hard it is for me to shop. Small guy like me who wears clothes that fit tight and well, things need to be XS. There are people my size, so I just blame it on Americans being larger or more importantly, wearing loose fitting clothing so they look like idiots.
My brother got me a very cool sweater that “peel” open across the chest, but even Urban Outfitters’ Small was a bit too long on the arms. I returned it, got credit, and now went to buy something with it. I end up getting this sick ass (faux) leather jacket. As Charlie from Always Sunny would say, “That is baaaad ass.” I’ve been on their site, and it feels like H&M, they just put their ugly shit for sale because no one will buy it.
Bolanos actually feels bad about the weird cigarette thing from Saturday and stops by to drop off two packs. Yeah, that was completely unnecessary for him to do and I’m really completely over it.

December 20, 2011
I’m obviously trying to be productive these days and get shit done with my break. However, my sleep is weird and end up sleeping for about 12 hours until 2-3PM. I chat with Ela a bit who got my present, but hasn’t opened it yet. Good traditions. I then run some errands. I go to mail this camera I sold on eBay. My mom got it for free and it was pretty shit. Gotta invest in a decent one.
I then go to Filene’s Basement, which is closing. I spend most of my time in the basement, which is basically shoes. Actually, it’s all pretty empty except for the racks and display things. They’re actually selling those. Jeez, this place really is liquidating. The shoe area is a fucking mess. It’s been picked apart by what seems like hounds, boxes empty, boxes with one shoe, one shoe there, one shoe there, hardly pairs together.
I try to pick through the stuff and see there are Cons and some cool ones too. Shit’s all mad cheap by the way (50% off). Unfortunately, they just have huge sizes, so I end up buying a pair for Bola. Just too cheap not to get it for him. He needs shoes anyway, kid’s always out with the same shit.
I end up getting two pair. One brown a bit booty looking. Another straight black, slick looking/a bit dressy.
We don’t end up doing anything for the night because Atron is done with law school, but has a flight to Aruba in the morning.

December 22, 2011
I go into the city after brunch with the family. I meet up with Evan because he’s in the city. We go to the American Apparel warehouse sale. I don’t end up getting anything, shopping for me is the worst. Size issues, etc. etc. We then grab a bite at City Bakery. We split up while I go to Uniqlo and spend an hour there, also not getting anything.
I then go to Rockefeller Center to take some pictures of the tree and to get a macaron at La Maison Du Chocolat. I meet back up with Evan, we take the train back, and then go to Juliebelle’s for dinner. He splits, I meet up with Kenny, Miah, and Erdem at BHT for a little bit.

December 23, 2011
We make it a lazy night and Scott, CNF, and Bolanos go to my basement bar to chill. CNF’s first night back here for the break.

December 24, 2011
It’s a long day today for me because I’m making the feast for everyone. I brined the turkey the night before. I made cake batter for these gingersnap cookies. I then place this caramel/fruity Mexican candy that my mother got as a gift on the cookies. It actually works out pretty well giving more sweetness and texture to the cookie.
It’s pretty much an entire operation from 11AM to 6:30PM, no breaks and also with the help of my grandmother. There’s a cream of mushroom soup that I wish was a bit thicker, but still turned out well.
Then there was a pretty good mac n’ cheese with a BBQ potato chip topping. The topping didn’t taste like BBQ, but the potato chip crunchy topping is a great idea. I did Brussels sprouts, which I didn’t really end up liking too much. I cooked it with bacon and a splash of balsamic then finished olive oil. Next time, I would cook it more to cut the bitterness and also cut it in half so more flavors can get into it.
The turkey was made with lemon, rosemary, garlic butter under the skin. The turkey turned out alright though maybe it could’ve been cooked less so it would be less dry. I usually cook a sick gravy, but this time it didn’t turn out too well. Ramsay’s recipe called for the entire lemon that I cooked in the turkey to be cut up into the gravy. However, this just make the gravy super bitter because the peel is basically inedible. Next time, I’ll just skip that part. I do like the way he makes it though. You use the unused bits of the turkey as the pan, which is deglazed. No extra fat is added, but it still has chunks of turkey and onion. Apple cider vinegar can lighten the flavor.
The sweet potato with marshmallows turned out pretty well. I also like the machego gougeres I made. One batch had rosemary and the other had Spanish pimenton.
My mom ends up coming home with an iPhone, which I’m too busy to deal with while I’m cooking. It’s nice finally getting into the 21st century and have a new phone.
For dessert, Hasan brought a pie as well as some champagne. Bolanos makes the rookie mistake of drinking a heavy 14% alcohol beer with the meal. He’s literally passing out and it’s barely 9:00. Him and Hasan end up going home, whereas the champs, CNF and I go with Miah and Kenny to Astoria.
We go to Sweet Afton and see Jeff Cohen from high school. I mention how I saw him in college at a Gym Glass Heroes show in Rochester. He’s very kind and walks up to chat with us for a bit. We catch up with him and he tells us that he now has a fiancé. After some delicious beverages at Sweet Afton, we go to Studio Square which is closed. After a quick stop at Irish Rover, we call it a night.

December 25, 2011
I can’t seem to get people to do stuff tonight. I was excited to go into the city for Christmas, but it turns out that only Scott and Jon are going in, but they’re also staying in the city. I’m not really in the mood to be freezing cold and have to take the trip home myself, so I just stay in. Turns out that Bolanos and Hasan are free, so we go to Astoria after finding out that BHT is closed. We go to Irish Rover, which is also closed, but find a place called MexiQ. It’s mostly a restaurant, but actually has a sick beer menu. I get a winter wheat, which is delicious. I then get a pumpkin beer, which is the best I’ve had so far.

December 28, 2011
We meet up with Jon and Tom at Coalyard Bar. We then go to Tile Bar, which is a place we always walk by. It’s a very cool and chill dive bar. Man, there are so many great bars in this area and we found a new one.
We then go to Cienfuegos. We go through two punch bowls and Tom and Miah take the 1:19 back. Bolanos and I man up because it’s our break and have nothing to do during our break. We go to Sophie’s and Jon gets an announcement that Peel is one of the best designs. It’s great to hear the good news for him. I’m proud of our boy.
That’s about the night pretty much. It’s good to be out finally in the city. Bolanos actually asks when the last time I got drunk and I feel I did that tonight.

Maturity

November 24, 2011
Jon’s back for the week and we meet up with everyone at BHT the night before. It’s interesting to see people that I never get to see these days Erdem, Evan, Avi, and Doug. Today, I was planning on baking pies, but for some reason, my mom forces me to go to a family friend’s house at 1:00PM to Bayonne. Traffic is great and it only takes an hour. However, eating doesn’t start until 5:00 and we don’t leave until 9:30. Long fucking day and I didn’t get any work done. However, I did help cooking a sautéed broccoli, string beans, and the gravy. I’m the gravy guy apparently because I’m the shit.
At night, a few of the guys come over for a few beers.

November 26, 2011
I’ve been sitting in my house for the past two days doing this legal research project that I should’ve started tackling two weeks ago, but instead left it for this break. It’s due Wednesday, so I have more than enough time, but I want to get it done this weekend and then focus on outlining for my finals. It is stupidly laborious despite being done online. I couldn’t imagine how time consuming it would be if we were required to use the library book resources. It’s just a lot of stupid questions and routes of research instead of letting the student decide how to research the matter, explaining why, and then writing about it.
Either way, bitch bitch moan moan, I’ve been watching documentaries. I saw one on Barcelona that was not quite focused, but it did cover the intriguing culture of bull fighting and the 21st century fighting to get rid of the old cultural staple. It also deals with the gorgeous Sagrada Familia, which I can’t wait to visit.
I also watch a “Stephen Hawking” segment on advances in healthcare. Very cool stuff. I’m now watching “The Finland Phenomenon.” It’s about the Finnish education system and how they lead the world education. It focuses on how America can learn from this small Scandinavian country.
I pretty much spend the entire day working on the project. I’m actually pretty good about locking down and don’t let distractions like Facebook bother me too much. Hopefully I can hold this kind of attention when finals come along.
At night, Alon drives Kenny and I into the city. We go to Atron’s apartment and have a few drinks, CNF and Scott come along. I tell the guys about Luna and show her on Facebook. They bitch at me that I should’ve made moves when she stayed at my place. Agreed agreed. I immediately was in touch with her that night and made sure things were flowin’.
We meet with Bolanos and we go to Jake’s Dilemma. I spend the time mostly mentoring Alon. Good shit. We eventually decide to call it an early night and I’m home by 2:00.

November 27, 2011
I wake up by 11:00 with a bit of a dry mouth, but that’s it. I’ve recently been taking aspirin before I go to sleep and fuck me is there a change. I probably had 5+ drinks last night and at times, that would be the equivalent of 10 in how I felt the next day. I would sleep all day, have a headache, have the worst dry mouth, nothing would fix it, food or water. Today, I have a bit of a parched tongue, but that’s about it! I’m super glad I’ve figured something out to deal with my huge issue.
Graned, this isn’t carte blanche for me to go crazy. I can’t have those ridiculous nights where I have 10 or so drinks. Even last night, I had to tell my tipsy sell that maybe one less drink would be a good idea. Just keep everything under control, but still enjoy yourself. I’m just glad I can kick back a few now without drastic consequences the next day.
I end up going into the city, despite the fear of Thanksgiving traffic, which wasn’t bad at all. I go to the Union Square Holiday Market, which I’ve never been do and it fucking blows my mind. It has so many amazing things that I can’t even list. A lot of it is stuff I would like to get, art, but that’s just really expensive, even the prints. I guess that’s the cost of art, artists gotta get paid. There’s lots of jewelry and scarve things, but I’m not willing to go into that. I’m not sure how my tastes are.
I end up getting a “film” wallet for my brother, cause he’s into film. I get a few of these really cool recycled paper, wood and string lock booklets. Three for $10. I’ll throw them into some gifts. I get Ela some Japanese Kanji decoration and piggy bank. I also have to go into Facebook and message everyone I want to send Christmas cards.
I’m getting old. I listen to Xmas songs in my car all day. I’m loving Xmas more and more and just can’t wait to go all out on crafts for my cards and gifts this year.

November 30, 2011
I’m getting a bit paranoid because I haven’t been studying for my finals next week. They barely give us anytime and the by far hardest, criminal law, is the first one. It literally is three finals worth of work compared to the others. I guess it’ll be a load off and it’ll feel like barely studying when I have to study for the other two.
There’s a macaron crawl in the city and I’ve been wanting to go to these. They seem to have huge turn outs and go to awesome food places every month. I wanted to go get out and do something. I get to the train station, buy a ticket, and realize that I’ll be stuck cold and by myself walking a lot. And fuck, I hate walking out in the cold. Pussy me just gives up the plan and goes home.

December 1, 2011
It’s pretty cool that my professor brought champagne this morning for our small class (20ish). This one guy knows how to drink and gets a real drunk on. He looks all woozy and red. I get my own share of 3 of those teeny plastic fake champagne glasses. Pretty sick.
Other than that, I just plan on working my butt off and studying well. Getting shit done.

December 14, 2011
Well it’s my last final today. Grandmother came back from China yesterday, it’s gonna be weird having someone back in the house. Brother is back tomorrow. My final schedule turned out okay because it was from hardest to easiest. The stress slowly went away and by the time of my last final, Constitutional Law, it was pretty easy peasy.
After the final, it turns out everyone plans on going to the local bar. I head over there with a few people from my seminar, turns out it’s a blast. Basically every 1L is there. And boy, is this bar a local towny bar. They know people are coming, so they have food ready with Shepherd’s Pie and Meatballs. We have an excuse to be drinking at 1PM on a Wednesday, I’m not sure that they do. Also, why do all townies have gaps in their teeth. And they’re old, dress bad, and probably were just hit with an ugly stick at birth. Though in all seriousness, the bartenders were very nice and it’s a homely feeling they offer. It’s very sweet.
I have a few beers because I’m driving, but then I also partake in some joint act because someone in the back is smoking and they’re passing it around. It’s pretty awesome that people are cool like that. I’m still a lightweight from that shit and it hits me a bit, which is weird because I don’t know how I’m acting. I’m being a bit quite, my eyes probably look funny, and worst, I probably just reek of weed. Fuck it though, do it live.
It’s really a great experience though. I finally get to see everyone outside of law school when they get to be free and fun. The people are just awesome. It’s also nice to sort of leak out of the bubble because we have two sections of the entire class, then each section is split into 4-5 groups where we have a smaller seminar class. The rest of our classes are taught with the huge sections. So there’s a little bubble of the seminar, where you know people the best because you speak to them on almost a daily basis. Then there’s the section, of the people you recognize in the large auditorium class. Then there’s finally the other section, which is basically people you might recognize from the hall or from the Facebook group for the law school, but just don’t know otherwise. It’s really important to get that intermingling stuff in.
So I started at 1PM, by 5PM, I’m good to go after a couple beers and it’s been an hour or so since that puff, puff, pass. On the way home, I had to get myself some Wendy’s, cause that’s what a sobering man wants. After that, a nap. What gluttony.
I can’t wait for the party that one of my seminar mates is throwing on Friday in Brooklyn. A lot of the people from the 1L class are going and it’s another opportunity to see people outside of the zoo that is law school. The people are just fun, nice, and awesome. New connections, new people, I’m about that.

December 15, 2011
Bowen’s home today along with grandma, so the house is no longer to myself, which feels a bit strange. I end up going with grandma to the new Fairway and doing some shopping. I later go with Bowen to BHT to meet up with Reigler, Bolanos, and Evan. It’s probably a bit weird for him at times because we always somehow get into stupid heated conversations about dumb things.

December 16, 2011
Grandma wanted to treat my brother and I to dim sum so we go into Flushing for it. Amazing place. One of my best dim sum experiences.
At night, I head into Brooklyn for a law school party. One of my seminar mates is throwing it at her apartment. I end up bringing champagne and a garlic, rosemary goat chesse spread and some home made crostini. People seemed to love it throughout the night. Good job, I must say. Better than me baking, I still can’t do that extremely well yet. I’ll learn though.
It’s really nice with a decent amount of people from our class and others. The class people also brought their significant others, which sort of shows how I’m young compared to everyone. We end up going on her roof for a bit, which is really nice.
In the end, it’s really fun again like the bar thing I went to after the final. Having a few drinks, having a few laughs, swapping stories, meeting new people, new connections. I’m all about it.

December 17, 2011
Maturity
So it’s Bolanos’ birthday tonight so I decided to make it a Facebook event because he constantly refused to do so. I told him that people are adults and they need plans. You can’t just text them on a whim and expect them to show up for things. He explains that people still ended up accepting the invite, but I tell him that he’s lucky. Sure it’s a good thing that people show up to his birthday, but I hope it smacks him in the face one day. How the fuck you going to be a lawyer without some sense of organization? You need to deal with people. People are adults, they need plans, things set, times and places. It’s a mix of laziness, incompetence, and social ineptitude. Maturity.
Part of it for me is out of selfishness though. I just finished finals and I want to go out. I’m not going to let this guy ruin his own freaking birthday out of poor planning. I must take the reigns to make sure it all works out, but also for me as well.
I end up driving into the city because there’s this Yelp event in the city. There’s a space rented out to be a market, but I unfortunately don’t make it. There was traffic along the way and I thought I’d stop at Queens Mall for a piss. Turns out that detour took an hour, yes, an hour to travel .3 miles off of the LIE for a pee break. I guess people are busy shopping, but they need to fix that area. Something is fucked the fuck up if getting simply into the area is that much of a hassle.
I end up still making it to the market in time for the Yelp event. Just the event though, the market was closed by then and I didn’t get any holiday shopping in. I meet Luna there with her friend, I think they’re going to some event or something. She’s dressed in a gown for it and he’s in a suit. We swap Christmas gifts. Her turns out to be too nice, homemade tea mix, cocoa mix, and cookies. Also personally decorated in jars, with the cookies in a tin, and her card made of felt with a Xmas tree cut out of it. So nice.
After a couple drinks at the Yelp event, I end up splitting and going to UWS to where Bolanos is hanging out with Michelle at her friend’s apartment. I make it up there, stopping on the way to get Bolanos a tart from Bouchon. We have a few drinks at her apartment and the best story comes up. Aaron apparently threatened Bolanos that he would put his balls on his coldcuts when they had their drama. Evan and I literally were crying laughing from this. Bolanos had to move his cold cuts. Atron also was adamant about it and kept threatening it. That constant threat is scary. I tell Atron that this was shared and he jokes that he also put his dong in Bolanos’ spaghetti. Great story.
We have to start worry about people showing up at 9. I arbitrarily made it at 9 on Facebook, but Bolanos was worried people were going to show up. I told him to text everyone to get their ETA. This way we knew if we needed to rush. He refused. Too much work apparently. Maturity.
We catch a cab downtown and walk into Horsebox. I ended up choosing it because Bolanos wanted TVs, despite nothing being on that night. I walk in and say Hi to Kenny, motherfucker refuses my handshake. Hey, I’m not happy he had to wait, but I’m not the one that told him to show up at 9, he maybe should’ve expected us to be late. Also, now this is my fault because I was the one that needed to event. Kenny wouldn’t have fucking known about this shindig if it weren’t for me. Then also hey, what’s an hour anyway. I would’ve went around to grab a bite, had a drink, and hell, maybe it would’ve forced me to meet some new people. Shit, waiting an hour can’t be the worst thing and how is it my fault. Maturity.
I later then see that Kenny’s eating the expensive ass tart that I got Bolanos. He explains that Kenny’s angry. Yeah, screw him. Also, that’s a bit weird giving that away, though it is gift, so I guess he could do anything with it. Also, I’m more confused by Kenny. I would feel weird eating someone’s birthday gift, even if it was given to me by the birthday boy. I would make sure that Bolanos had it, because hey, it’s his birthday. Why am I eating his gift during his birthday? No, Kenny’s sense of justice involves him getting pastries during Bolanos’ birthday, just because he’s mad. Maturity.
Jess and Griff are there, really nice seeing them. Jonah and Kerri, great to see them too though didn’t get to catch up with them. Sam and her two roommates were there. It was amazing catching up with her. She was even a huge champ about going to Sophie’s afterwards when her roommates split.
I didn’t get dinner, so a bunch of us go to Zaragoza. The hot waitress isn’t there, but the awesome food still is. Bolanos complains a bit about his issues because he hooked up with Michelle’s bestfriend. I just keep telling him the seal the deal, not to worry about her being Michelle’s friend or whatever things he was floating around in his head. She ended up splitting, so we don’t know how Bolanos’ closure rate would have turned out.
I end up meeting Michelle’s boyfriend, who Griff joked was Ben Kweller. Long haired white kid dude, I think he plays the guitar too, funny nickname. He’s a really nice guy, tried to make conversation. Score one for girls choosing nice guys.
We then walk to Sophie’s. Stefan ends up sitting at this table of 3 after the 4th just left the table for a bit. I’m “winging” with him. This one girl is a huge bitch and start yapping off about how awkward it is and how he should leave. I probably could’ve tried to defuse how quickly it got to “awkward” because the other two girls didn’t really say much. However, Stefan took it like a man, sat there for a few seconds, then we walked away. No harm no foul. I like it, I need to step up and involve myself in more of this. Single and mingling. Maturity.
Luna ends up stopping by from her party. We chat for a bit. Stefan ends up chatting with this girl for the whole freaking night. I keep texting him to “Seal the deal.” Turns out, the girl’s looking at his phone when he’s trying to get her number and I almost spoiled it by texting him in the middle of that. Woops. Good thing I didn’t though.
I’m standing around with Luna and Bolanos wants a cigarette. Hey, I try not to smoke around company. I ain’t no savage. Anyway, Bolanos gives me this stupid fucking sigh and I tell him to go bum one. He scowls at that thought. Grow the fuck up man. Maturity.
Even worse, I walk over to the table and I see my pack of cigarettes out. Turns out he or whoever fucking decided to raid my private shit, go through my stuff, have the balls to grab a bunch of cigarettes, then not tell me. Firstly, this now means I have to buy a new pack and I literally just bought one yesterday. It’s a hassle and fuck, this shit is expensive and adds up. It’s not that I wouldn’t have offered, but there’s something extremely disrespectful about going against someone’s wishes and skeevily going through their private stuff. I confront Bolanos about it. He tries to play some blame misdirection shit. I go to the real issue though, why are you so incompetent that you can’t bum a cigarette or buy your own pack that you have to go so low into something like what basically equates to stealing. And yes, it counts as stealing when you were not offered, then rummage through someone’s stuff. Even a friend. That’s stealing. He avoids the issue of bumming one, which God in mighty hell, striking up a conversation with a random person!? Who could ever do that?! Then he tells me what he’s supposed to do with a pack. I tell him do what I do. If you plan on going out and drinking and having a cigarette or two, bring a pack out. What’s so hard… I’m sure part of it is that he’s a boy and probably gets his room cleaned and wouldn’t want his mum finding that he has cigarettes in his room. So yeah, a precedent has been set. He’s gotta grow up and buy his own pack now. Sorry, no more bummin’ from me. Maturity.
Shaq ends up coming. We get a ride from him to my car in Soho. I drive Evan, Michelle, Bolanos, and Doug back.
Really great night hanging people I rarely get to see. The larger picture though opens the book to a much larger issue. Some people need it. Maturity.

Cold and Fall

November 17, 2011
Here’s some stuff I decided to write. The first is from a morning where I felt poetic and wanted to write something while I was in the shower. The other was something that I quickly thought of when Ela asked me what she should write for her card for her host mother when she was in Connecticut. She didn’t end up using it because it seems like it’s for old people.
Los minutos de un día son como la arena. Utilice cada grano cuando construye el castillo que es su vida.
As time goes on, each wrinkle we gain is a sprinkle of wisdom we've retained. Our minds will remain despite us gaining a frail frame.

November 19, 2011
Pregaming for Thanksgiving. The night before, I go to Fairway to check out it’s awesomeness and boy is it sick. It’s both a regular supermarket as well as a huge Whole Foods. It has a huge food court and a deli area where they just make sandwich and burgers. There’s a section with just barrels of coffee beans and people that bag it up for you. Just a sick sick place.
I try to grab the ingredients to make an apple pie, but I don’t have a pie pan so I leave it for today. I go to Crate and Barrel during the day and start my pie at night. Ela on Skype calls me while she’s drinking with pals over. I try to explain some drinking games as I make my pie.
At night, I end up going into the city for Lydia’s birthday. On the drive there with Bolanos, shit, there’s a reason why people shouldn’t talk politics and religion. If I weren’t his friend, I would have to consider this man insane. Then again, he actually is and I already think that. There are multiple names I give him:
1. Mr. Britanica. We get into a conversation about Christmas and I explain that some people consider it Christmas already by being in the spirit, putting up decorations, and even stores are decorating already. He explains that he doesn’t consider it X-mas and he read how merchants and the markets work on a different timeframe. Despite his wishes, what he thinks doesn’t count. He makes up definitions of words and feels he should decide how things are “correct.” The name comes from how old school Britanica is and how he acts like those bookworms that have no clue how the world operates, but read it in a book, so therefore, it must be.
2. Mr. Grinch. This lunatic thinks that Christmas should not be a national holiday because it’s a Christian based holiday. I explain that it’s a holiday first, but then has a Christian history. How can someone be “against” Christmas? It brings families together and people just love this time of the year. People feel like giving and all the great warm emotions that people have come together. Instead, this scumbag has to be a Grinch. Even worse, the Grinch did it out of greed, but eventually realized what X-mas meant and turned his way. Mr. Eric Grinch just does it out of hate and ignorance. Great, asshole.
3. Busybody PTA mom. He tells me a story about some loser that petitioned a city to not give out X-mas cards to people because it was “religious.” I laugh at this and how he could support a waste of space like that guy. These are people that we need less of in the world, people that have nothing to do, but complain and worry about other people. They can’t better themselves, they just have to make things worse for others and they just want to spend their time on that. Granted, it’s a good thing that Bolanos is too lazy to affect anyone. However, do you think I spend a second of my day worrying about X-mas or religion in this country. Fuck no. This kid? He’s brainstorming and wasting his time worrying about this stuff. What a do nothing.

Anyway, I probably sound like a lunatic myself already. We meet Lydia at Doc Holiday’s and hang out for a bit. Her two cousins eventually meet up with us. I end up texting with Aaron to come out, but he’s busy writing a memo. During the text’s with him, I try to send him a text, “You’re missing out, Lydia’s got the hottest fucking cousin.” Well I was also texting Lydia that night about how we were meeting up. Turns out that with my sneaking texting (I was trying not to be antisocial and still be in conversation while texting), I accidentally sent that to Lydia. Wow, great. Fucking one of the most embarrassing moments of my life.
I discuss it with Bolanos after we split from Lydia and her cousins. It actually wouldn’t be that bad if it was sent to him, because we’d just be talking shit, but it was to Aaron, who wasn’t there, so that just seems like I’m creepy. Also, it would be different if it was her friend, but instead, it’s her cousin. I guess there’s some familial protectiveness that I’m making up that possibly exists between them. In the end, I’m so glad it was Lydia I made this mistake with. She pretty much laughed it off through texts I had with her that night, but fuck, I’m embarrassed as shit.

Fall is Here

September 26, 2011
Well last week, I had a smack in the face. My school is nice enough to have a professor only for “extra help” purposes. The classes aren’t mandatory, but almost everyone goes. The extra help stuff isn’t bad, but the good stuff is getting a test question and having him grade it. And boy, after taking one, I got fucked. He didn’t give an actual grade, but it’s pretty obvious I did really poorly and would’ve basically failed.
However, I was happy to see on the Facebook group for our class that everyone got this smack of realization as well. The day to day reading has been quite reasonable for me. I’m always a class or two ahead on reading and following around with notetaking in class and understanding the concepts isn’t hard. However, looking at the big picture, synthesizing all these rules and concepts into an essay is extremely rough.
Multiple choice can focus memorization so that it’s doable, but getting a wide open question and being forced to regurgitate all the rules we have in our readings is extremely hard, especially criminal law. I’m pretty annoyed and stressed with this all.

September 30, 2011
Happy Birthday to me yo. I head into the city and meet up with Miah, his new g/f Hannah, Tom, Stefan, and Lydia at The Cardinal for dinner. We get a BBQ platter and we can’t even finish it. Stefan complains to the really kind waitress that I had last time about people standing around the restaurant. He’s very forward about his complaint and the owner comes down from upstairs and explains that other people were throwing a birthday party and it got a lot bigger than they expected.
It really was not a big deal and it’s not like their party was loud and obnoxious. Either way, the owner sends us down loads of pecan pie. It’s way too sweet and not my cup of tea, but it’s still a really kind gesture.
Unfortunately, it’s raining and we have to walk over 10 blocks to Common Ground, where I reserved space. Bolanos, Scott, Josh, and Angela are already there and Hannah’s friend comes along as well. We play Trivial Pursuit drinking game. Later, Aaron shows up and we head to Keybar for some free shots. They offer free shots for a whole party when it’s your birthday, and they even give leeway for a week behind or ahead.
Eventually, it’s Bolanos, Tom, and I, we go to Baohaus and then take a cab to Penn. We find a guy being arrested, not sure what for.

October 5, 2011
So the tally up on my birthday, Treez got me a beer. I had a few cards sent to me. My brother got me a sweater that came in the mail, but it’s a bit big, so I’ll have to go to Urban Outfitters and exchange it for something else. My grandmother gave me some money before she went to China and I’m going to set that aside for awesome stuff instead of counting it as my general expenses for random meals and a beer here and there. I decided to buy myself a proper, though budget, chef’s knife and it’s pretty sweet because my house hold knife was getting pretty dull.
Yesterday, I decided to bake pumpkin chocolate chip cookies because I went to this Asian Club Meeting for law school. One of the member’s is trying to get to Geneva to go to this convention so she can learn about women’s rights and then use that to help because in Southeast Asia or something. Anyway, for her flight, she needs to make money through a bakesale, so I thought I’d help out.
There’s this hilarious student in class that’s so racist. No, she’s not racist on purpose, she just cheats like a 5 cent Asian massage parlor whore. She seems to understand English fine and knows vocabulary and her grammer seems fine, but her accent is too crazy. Hey, good for her, maybe she’s a recent immigrant or exchange student or whatnot, so nice job for learning English and being able to get by law school. I’m all for it. But yo, I’m going to barely hold back laughing at the stereotyping that’s involved in the accent.
I had a meeting with my professor yesterday. It’s our small class of about 20 people. The other classes are big lecture halls, whereas this is about learning the substantial stuff that actually will be utilized when we become lawyers. We had to write a memo and there’s mandatory student/teacher meetings so there we go. I received my first grade from law school and it was a 8.75/10, the grades ranged from 9 to 7.75. She so far has been pretty rough about being really active in class. From what we hear, she’s a lot more demanding than the other students have it, but we seem to think that’s a good thing. I like her, others like her, we’re learning.
Despite not getting the highest grade in the class, she seemed confidant that I know what I was talking about with my draft and was quite impressed. I felt I participated in the class a decent amount, but I guess she expects more now seeing how I can write, understand the material, etc. She asks if I participate in the larger lecture hall classes, where I don’t really too much, but still do, however this does light a fire under my ass. It’s also hard not to smile like the Grinch while she’s complimenting me, but I try by best to keep it in.

October 8, 2011
I stay at home the night before because I have a Yelp event at noon. I get into the city and meet up with Atron. We have a couple cocktails, day drankin! We leave only an hour in because there’s nothing much to do and we can’t get shitfaced during the day. I walk around Eataly, which I’ve never been to. I walk around to a large gift shop in the area and then La Maison du Macaron. Their chocolate almond croissant is incredible. I get back home, chill out, and take a quick nap.
It’s Tom’s bday, but I have a cold and I had one last week. Instead of trekking all the way into the city, I have a few of the guys over, Bolanos, Scott, and Avi, who I haven’t seen in forever. Ela’s on Skype despite it being 4:30 because bars don’t close and she’s awake. We sit around my computer, it’s Scott and I, no one is here yet. We chat around with her and her roommate Sven, which I haven’t heard much about, cool guy. But yeah, technology these days, us four “hanging” out despite being thousands of miles away.
We have some beers and they leave to grab some White Castle. I’ve been super healthy recently, eating at home and cooking instead of having cheat meals outside. This pig out is pretty bad, two burgers and “loaded” fries (ranch, bacon, cheese on fries.)

October 10, 2011
Luna texted me this week, this gal I dated earlier this year, but ended up losing contact with. I was supposed to hang with her yesterday, but I still felt sick, but today turned out fine. She was with some friends though and we meet in Chinatown. It’s a super hot day like it’s almost summer. We go on an egg tart tour and then hang out at the Highline for a bit. I get back home at night.

October 16, 2011
I end up staying in on Friday even though Luna wanted to hang out.
I spent the day pretty sick. For some reason, my cold is coming back randomly. At night, Stefan wanted to hang out. Shit don’t stink wanted to make plans and hang. Luna also was around. However, I just didn’t feel like hanging out. Maybe it was because I was sick or something, but I just didn’t feel like hanging out and I stay in doing nothing.
Today, I go into the city with Jenn to check out Occupy Wall St. The park is quite small, but it’s just a weird scene. It’s a conglomeration of lots of politics views, including assholes like Marxists and 9/11 conspiracy theorists. Then there are amateur hip hop artists that are spitting some garbage. The tents, sleeping bags, and “living stuff” is really weird. Clothes all over. Food being given out. It’s just a nasty nasty scene.
There’s even this guy that takes cologne samples because he pissed himself the night before. What an animal. Just a classy classy place…
Jenn, her friend, and I leave after an hour and go to Banh Mi Zon for a quick bite.

Law School Begins

August 19, 2011
I wake up super early to get into the city because orientation is at the courts in Chinatown. Surprisingly, I’m able to get there in an hourish from my house taking the bus and 7 train and then subway downtown. The court we walk into has an interesting felony case, but the stuff is way dry and I basically fall asleep. I then basically fall asleep when they give us horrible speeches. One from the dean and one from a District Judge. On the other hand, one of the deans gives a honest, funny, and inspiring speech. She’s quite awesome and I really enjoyed it.
We get out by 3:15 and I immediately go to a Starbucks to change into sneakers and jeans that I brought. Yeah, I brought a change of clothes because I really did not want to be walking around in slacks and shoes.
I head over to the MET and get a quick walk around. For some reason, my legs start giving up on me and I can’t cover as much as I wanted and end up trying to find anywhere I can sit.
Bolanos comes into the city because I wanted to make plans for the night. We get some Porchetta for dinner and then it suddenly starts pouring like crazy. After a bit, we go to International because it’s close and we don’t really need to walk around in the rain. We hang there for a bit and then go to Keybar, a place I’ve been meaning to go to for a while. It turns out to be a pretty sweet bar with a Happy Hour until 10PM. We give up on the night and take a 11:19 back. Scott is home and able to pick us up from the train station. We go to Bolanos’ basement with a few beers and Spamps and Miah come. We listen to some music, shout about bullshit, I call Bolanos out for being a bigot, etc. etc.

August 20, 2011
At night, I go to Forest Hills to meet up with the Asian crew for an apartment party. We start off with Cranium, which my team obviously wins at. Then a few more people show up and we start some beer pong/flip cup game. The both are combined into one and enforces a lot more drinking and allows for loads of people to play. It’s 5 girls against 5 guys and I think we end up winning. I end up leaving by 4-5:00 and getting home by 6-7:00.

August 27, 2011
I sit around during the day, not really worried about the hurricane that’s supposed to come. I nerd it up by watching MLG for Starcraft 2 and GGsLive for the Magic Grand Prix. Both are streamed online and show the tournaments that are occurring this weekend.
I write a card for Tracy because her birthday is today. I run to H Mart and collect the ingredients for a German dinner because I have a bag of spaetzle to use. After more nerding with some No Reservations and Luther, I head to make dinner. I do a mighty good job making jaegerschnitzel (pork schnitzel with mushroom cream sauce). I make it with cheese spaetzle. I have it with a Hofbrau, making it a legit dinner.
I should’ve jumped on top of doing stuff with people because the storm is a joke so far. Just a bit of rain, nothing much, but we don’t end up doing that and it’s a waste of a night, but whatever, I still have this six pack, so I guess that’s where the night is going.
Ela ends up being on Skype at around 12:00, which means 6AM for her. I’m confused as to why, but it turns out she was out. Boy, I never get back from my night at that time.

September 2, 2011
Class so far hasn’t been too bad. The day to day reading adds up so I have to stay ahead, but I’m pretty studious about that, especially when I haven’t had Internet since Monday. For some reason, the Internet decided go out after the hurricane and all that business.
I should start worrying about the bigger picture stuff though. That’s what the exam will be on. The day to day individual cases and reading aren’t too hard to take in, but figuring out where they all fit into the course and being able to combine all those concepts into writing is where I need to be. It’s still super early, but the stuff isn’t too challenging too far so I feel like keeping busy.
Ela’s been preparing to move and stuff because she starts her move to school next week, across the country to the south. I’ve been keeping up with her, especially this one day we both had nothing to do. I decided to sit in the library because it would be super boring at home. This is like the time I was in my NYC apartment and the Internet didn’t get installed for a week so I had to just stay in the NYU library like 12 hours a day. Ela got to see the inside of that library and I guess the CUNY one now.
At night, it’s Erdem’s birthday so we go to Arepas Café, which turned out a lot worse than last time. The chicken one was like chicken salad. The meats were dry. There crispy arepa shell and sauces held it up though. I actually really like the ham and cheese one, despite it sounding boring.
After that, we meet Tom, Scott, and CNF at beer garden. CNF’s back! He’s been doing well and such.
Story time: Bolanos and I walk by the club that we went to once in the area that turned out to be super super lame. You could’ve find more guys at a club despite the fact that they were giving free entrance and booze to girls and they were also charging guys a cover.
We made fun of two guys that tried to get into the club with their hats, despite a no hats policy. One guy stuffed his hat into his pants and was found out by the bouncer. It was hilarious and ridiculous to see that. I can barely walk because I’m constantly holding my stomach and stopping to catch my breath from laughing so hard. I’m just trying to envision seeing two grown ass men in an alley trying to stuff hats down their pants and that image is enough to get me going.
Story time: I tell the fellas about this women, she’s in the 30s, that goes to my school and how she curses because she used to be a construction worker. After class, with 5-6 of us in the room, she’s talking with someone (not even a good friend) and somehow the conversation turns into talking about a fuck buddy she has. We’re pretty much strangers to her and she’s really revealing a hella lot. She mentions how he’s useless and only good for sex or what not. Jeez, she’s sharing a shit ton.
Bolanos tells me about this guy at his school that did this to him directly. There was some situation that this guy got into maybe about a girl in his house and he was asking Bolanos for his advice. This isn’t common conversation like weather. This is a stranger talking about banging a girl and why is he sharing this with Bolanos.
I’m laughing right now thinking about it, but I suggested that Bolanos tell a very similar story, with set up and everything. He would talk about how he was upstate and at a stable. And then the story slowly creeps into how Bolanos was trying to have sex with a horse. The guy’s response would’ve been priceless. I would pay so much to see that occur.
Either way, I’m a class or two ahead in my readings and work, so I should be pretty free this weekend. I’m excited for my time off and I should get off my ass and figure something to do.

September 3, 2011
I wake up by 12:00 because I haven’t been sleeping well for the past few days for some reason. It’s good to get a good recharge so I’m super set for today. After a nasty breakfast because I have nothing to eat in the house. It’s my lunch that I didn’t end up bringing to class a few days ago, a container of plain chicken breast, black beans, and frozen mixed vegetables with a bit of salsa. It’s dry, it’s bland, and super boring, but healthy as hell I guess.
After that, Ela is getting ready for a big night out. She’s hanging with people over on Skype while I’m just getting some writing done. Donezo, now it’s time to plan my weekend. Get it done.

September 12, 2011
My friend Lizzie that I met in Paris is in town. She’s Australian and lives in London and here for fashion week. I meet her and her Austrlian friend in the city and bring them down to Katz’s for some late dinner at around 10:00. Afterwards, we go to the tattoo shop on St. Marks where they met a tattoo guy because they’re looking for weed. They end up buying some spice, which I’ve never heard about. We sit around Bull McCabe’s for a bit and I eventually leave because there’s class tomorrow. It’s an interesting situation because there’s two pierced up tattoo guys, a Mexican dude, and a weird skinny guy.

September 13, 2011
I go into the city again to grab some dinner with Lizzie and Emily. We go to Nice Green Bo for some soup dumplings, which I’ve been planning to go to for a while now. Afterwards, I go to their hotel near Radio City and they smoke some salvia. I try a little bit, but it doesn’t really hit me. They then have some spice, which I have and it ends up working like weed. I sit there for a while and they end up passing out real hard so I let myself out and go home.
When I get home, I find out that it’s a chemical based substance that is supposed to mimic weed. If I wasn’t told what it was, I wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference.

September 14, 2011
I planned on sitting in today, but they called me again to have some dinner. I grab dinner with them at Kenka and then we sit around at Fat Cat because Lizzie isn’t 21 yet and the city sucks for anyone under 21. We then take a drive around the city for a bit and then I drop them off at where they’re staying.

September 15, 2011
I’m supposed to drop off Lizzie at the airport today because I’m too nice. However, from campus to SoHo, the BQE is backed up so bad that it takes an hour. Lizzie doesn’t have a phone on her and she’s waiting for me. Her brother calls me from London and asks what my situation is. I then find out that she needs to go to Newark, which there’s no way I can bring her to. I end up getting to the apartment and finding out that she caught a cab or something to Newark, so hopefully she caught her flight.
Emily is still in the city for a few days so I meet up with her for dinner at L’Asso.

September 17, 2011
I end up msging Lizzie on FB to make sure that she’s okay. Her brother seemed appreciative, However, she never gets back to me nor thanks me for the effort of going all the way into the city and that bizznast. Yo, screw that shit.

September 19, 2011
I need a new keychain :(

Note to girls: I will take gifts as a sign of 100% romantic interest so please be advised before you think about being nice.
I had to write about this because it was too funny. Not in a bad way, just Kenny showing in a few words who Kenny is. This is a status update he had on FB.
So understandable, he needs a keychain. Posting it up on FB shows a bit of an invitation for people to get him something, especially if it’s something small like a keychain. Then bam, he has to backhand ask for help because if a girl gets him something, boom, he’s going to fall for your ass. “You wanna be nice to me? Oh yeah? I’m fall in love with you bitch and I’m going to smother you with all the love I got. You willing to take that on?! Huh? Punkass!”
I’m sure it’s all a joke or something, but it’s just so playfully abrasive. I enjoy the wit.

September 21, 2011
I’m sitting in a dicking around mandatory seminar that they forced us into. It’s about “ managing time and “stress.” I personally am offended by this. Yes, really offended. It’s fucking patronzing. I’m a grownass mothershitting man. They’re trying to tell us that we’re going to eventually be lawyers. Then treat us like real fucking adults. This is so ridiculous that I have to be babied around by the idea that I should have a calendar. That I need to do simple stuff like shower. That I should understand I shouldn’t be on Facebook all the time. That I need to set deadlines for my outlines, midterms, and finales. That law school is “soooo hard.”
No asshole, it’s doable. You have to man up (or adult up if you want to be gender neutral), sit down, stop procrastinating, and do the work. Just do the work. It’s not superhuman stuff. Don’t make it seem like some titanic task like we’re part of the Manhattan Project. Give it to us real, we’re adults, and we can do this.
There’s a list of things that take up our time, our classes, extracurricular activities, readings, outlining, even personal life, eating, hygiene, and exercise. Everything in our whole lives that could be occupied by time. The missing thing? This: Professional Development Time. This time I’m in this thing is real damn time. It’s taking away from my reading and work that I will end up having to do later.
I hear people after class talk about it and I’m glad to hear some people have similar responses. Someone in front of me is outraged by it and does not need to hear them teaching us we need to us a computer and stupid simple stuff. It’s important that people can show their individualism and understand when they are being patronized. This seminar is the definition of something that completely undermines law school and the goal of the lawyering profession, but more importantly, personal dignity.

Books Open and Goodbyes

August 12, 2011
At night, I drive into the city to meet her and get Italian food. It’s a good meal and then we go to Fat Cat. We play some Foosball where she beats me again and then we sit around. We then play ping pong, but she’s tired from not sleeping recently. I started beating her despite her a few days ago winning 4-5 games against my 3.
I split up with her at Time Square while I go to Hell’s Kitchen. The bar is really cool and Scott, Bola, and Jenn are there. We hang for a bit and it’s pouring really bad. On the way to getting food in Greenwich, we see all the people in the club area waiting outside the club with nowhere to go.
We finally get some food after driving through a ridicuclous storm. They get Artichoke whereas I get Thelewala. They’re blasting Indian pop/hip hop music that I’m jamming out to while waiting for a lamb roll. Delicious stuff.
The drive back was quite an experience and dangerous, but after driving slow on the highway and some treacherous issues, I get home fine.

August 15, 2011
Wow, the first day of law school, well orientation at least. For some reason, anticipation messes up with my sleep and I’m up by 7:00AM. I shower, take my time, and I’m in out the door before 8:00. It takes me 15 minutes from my street to parking. That’s pretty sweet.
I sit down with some people and have part of a bagel and chat. We then go to the auditorium for stupid speeches. Then the seminar starts where the small class of 1Ls, 180 people or something, is split into groups. The group is about 20 people and we go over some cases, how to write a brief, pretty easy and basic stuff.
Then comes a lunch break, then some cool Q&A with the 2Ls. Then it’s back to more seminar where I start dozing off because it’s boring and I didn’t get enough sleep.
The stuff is pretty basic and it’s an ungraded orientation, what BS. Ela and Julia are coming over to stay the night before their flight tomorrow so fuck it, I want to hang out and screw this shit. I tell my professor that I won’t be able to make class and I want to hand in the work/find out the next day’s assignment. She doesn’t comply that tells me to see the Academic Dean, ugh.
I go home and call the office. I’m told to email the Dean and I don’t get an answer, screw it. I pick up Julia and Ela at 8:00 something and we pick up some sushi and beer. Ela brought a bottle of Jager so we drink beers and take shots while watching Tom Green’s Japan Subway Hour and Balls of Steel on my TV. My mom drops Bye to say Hi, but then I find out that my aunt, cousin, and grandma are staying over because their apartment has been painted and the fumes and such.
The three of us move to my basement, which is finally pretty fixed up. It needs paint and some more furniture and such, but the bar is nice and set up. We hang there listening to some music, drinking more, and playing drinking games. I start birthday business because Ela’s birthday is in two days. A slice of cake with a candle and her birthday gift.
We call it a night by 4:00. I finally wake up before 1:00 to get ready to drop them off. They then get their stuff ready, we grab a quick bite at Subway and then we pack up the car and head out to JFK. I drop them off, hugs, and Goodbyes. Ela has a nice Farewell card for me.
It slowly set in, but sucks actually saying “Goodbye” indefinitely to your best friend. I’ve never really had to do that before. Hopefully I’ll one day end up in Germany or she’ll visit America again. I’m going to miss her.

Summer's Ending

July 20, 2011
I’m invited to this Food Truck Crawl thing free because I’m an Elited on Yelp. It’s usually $24, which is not something I’d usually pay for. I meet up with Atron and Stefan at Union Square and they tag along with the group. My plan all along is that it’s food trucks, so they can hang out, and even better than paying the $24, they can choose what they want to eat and pay separately.
Unfortunately, the Jewish in the them makes them tag along on the line for “free” food because the truck assumes everyone is part of the group, which is basically paying customers. I’m really awkwarded out by this because they’re jipping the system, messing with my reputation, and most importantly, screwing the people that actually paid for this.
At the next truck, Stefan gets caught for not having a pin and walks away. I confront him and explain to him that he should never put me that in that position. I tried to explain to them that I wasn’t comfortable with having them doing that because I was speaking them and associated with them. And if they get caught for their cheapness, then my reputation is at risk. And seriously, they aren’t homeless so they can fucking pay for some dinner, jeez.
Stefan ends up splitting and Atron eventually conning a button out of the person running the crawl and goes along for the rest of the crawl. We then call Scott to meet him up in the UWS, actually thee same place I was last week, Jake’s Dilemma. Stefan shows up too after splitting from the crawl earlier. Stefan disappears for a while and comes back with two girls he met in the bar. Dana and Allie. They’re quite chill and we hang out with them. I don’t have work tomorrow so it’s a night to let loose. Stefan’s being a creeper and makes a move on Dana, who has a boyfriend, so that’s awkward, but he ends up leaving.
Scott, Atron, the two girls, and I go to Bourbon Street, which is empty and closing. Allie apparently ends up lifting Dana’s dress and showing her ass, which Scott and Atron see. Atron mentions this days later and makes this ridiculous noise from shock because I missed seeing it.
We end up splitting eventually, but not before exchanging numbers because they are cool people. The night really shows how I need to get out there, meet new people, and expand horizons. I know some assholes would say that I would abandon the people I know already, but no offense, since high school, we’re hanging with the exact same people and I’m willing to be honest and self-depricating about it. I’m just down to make some new friends.
I take the subway downtown and realize that instead of waiting 50 minutes at Penn for the 3:19, I would rather take the 6 train home and then the bus. Unfortunately, the local 6 train is taking forever and going really slow. It eventually gets me to Flushing at 3:20. Unfortunately, the bus to Little Neck is at 4:15. The decision wasn’t that bad, but the subway took forever. So instead of getting back at 4:00, I get home at like 4:40 or something.

July 23, 2011
Atron and I drive out the island for this party in Suffolk. It’s a pretty sick scene. It’s a huge huge backyard with a pool. They set up a tent with a DJ and speakers. There are loads of beer pong tables. There are two kegs and two huge coolers filled with various beers. At one point, there are about 50 or so people. I think about wanting to drive back that night, but Ela through texts convinces me to drink up because she’s having a miserable time at home and would love this kind of thing because that’s apparently what you do in Germany, throw big parties.
I’m just busy having some drinks and stuff, hanging around, though looking back, I probably should’ve been making some moves, meeting some peeps, talking to some of the cute girls there.
Atron gets shitfaced and starts arguing politics with these dudes for hours on end. By 3-4:00 people are basically all gone and I help the girl who threw the party clean up. I have nothing to do and I feel bad that she threw a party and had no one help her. I’ve done clean up before and it was three of us, and it makes it 3 times easier, which is huge. Obviously makes sense, but it really is miserable and lengthy to be a single person cleaning up shit.
I decide that I want to wait around a bit before driving, hopefully by 6:00 or something. Unfortunately, the drunkness slowly wears off, but is taken over by being tired. I had energy a few hours ago, but now I’m too tired to drive and try to lay down on a couch, but some guy is snoring like a fucker. I try to see on a table and rest mostly for 6 hours, while only being asleep for an hour or two of it. It’s 12 and I take the miserable drive back being tired and hungover. I immediately pass out when I get home.

July 25, 2011
My boss tries to rehire me because she wants to get some stuff done, but I refuse the offer because I’m used to having time off and really want the time before I start. I have to run to Flushing to CUNY to get them to notarize something. I wanted to do that locally, but I have no clue how to do that. After that, I spend three hours in Target. I get loads of shopping done because I’m trying to fix up the house. I’ll eventually list the work I end up doing.

July 28, 2011
I’ve wanted to go to the MET forever because of how amazing and expansive the museum is, and most importantly, it’s suggested donation. I also want to see the magnificent Alexander McQueen exhibit. I get there and donate $2 because that’s the minimum for credit card for some reason. I rent an audio piece for $8, which is really fantastic if you plan on learning something and seeing a lot of the museum.
I’m too lazy to wait on line and let it wait while it’s at 1.5 hours long, when I later check, the line is 2.5 hours long and I definitely cannot wait on that. Either way, they place closes and I’m pretty sure people on the line won’t be able to see the exhibit. The line actually wraps through the entire second floor and if you’ve been the MET, you know how huge that place is. I have a great time checking out the French impressionists, European artists, American landscapes, and the more contemporary art that they have.
By the end of it, I’ve been walking around there for 4 hours and my legs are killing me. I planned on going around, getting some foods at places I’ve never been to, but I won’t be able to walk around. I call Aaron and we meet up to get some Thai, he hates his food so I trade dishes with him.
We then walk around and I’m just about to pass out by the amount of gorgeous women that walk around the area during the day. It’s fucking unbelievable. Frankly, it just ain’t fair.
Anyway, we go browsing around for a happy hour until we go to an okay one at Hi Fi. I guess it’s cheap to get two Hoegarrdens or whatever for $6, but I usually think about stupid good deals, but you can’t really in that area and you can’t get cheaper than that for premium drinks.
Stefan shows up for some reason with Devil Dogs and is eating it in Aaron and my face, which is disgusting. He then tries to make a boiler maker by dunking a whiskey shot in a Brooklyn, which takes disgusting and he has a hard time manning up and chugging it.
We then go to Union Square and I’m glad I’m drunk. There’s an open mic where the dregs of society bitch about politics, while being completely uninformed and stupid. I want to repeat what they said because it’s a waste of my time. Aaron and Stefan spend their time doing that garbage too.
Bolanos was bitching at me all week that he wanted to do stuff. When I meet up with Atron at 5:00, I tell him to come in early. He complains that he has to play basketball and I reply that I’m not going to wait around for 5 hours until he takes the train in at night. Well, if he’s going to waste his night because he has an engagement with something as important as a pick up basketball game, then your loss buddy.
I then tell him to come in at night, but it turns out he’s too lazy. I get bored of this stupid open mic garbage so I just go home.

July 29, 2011
It’s my friend’s Camille’s 21st birthday weekened. I go into the city with Bolanos and she’s running late so we hang out at Bling Pig and have a few beers. I meet up with her and her friends and I bring them to Beauty Bar. We sit around for a bit, they check out the back area for a bit, we start walking towards another place and I give up because I’m bored. I say hi to Atron and his Bing friends, I say Bye to Stefan and head back on the 1:19. Bolanos split to hang out with his friends.

July 30, 2011
Ela turns out being free and going into the city because she just wants to get out of the house. I go to meet up with her, but I end up hitting traffic and driving 3-4 miles in an hour and a half. Getting to the bridge was quick as hell, but I waited in traffic after that forever, which sucked. I meet up with her and we get some Il Laboratorio, which has absolutely fantastic ice coffee as well as ice cream. We then get some dinner, which sucked at Lederhosen.
She finds out that she doesn’t have to go home early and work tomorrow so Theresa is invited to hang out because she leaves on Tuesday. We sit around in the East Village while waiting for her, people watching, making fun of them, etc. We meet up with Theresa, who I haven’t seen in forever, at McSorley’s. I run to the bathroom and when I come back, this derp looking motherfucker is there talking to Theresa and Ela.
Ela gives me a look while “Sully” is looking away, like a “Wtf is this dude doing here talking to us.” I just give her a sarcastic super enthusiastic smile and nod my head. What am I going to say, the guy’s trying to make moves. He’s stuck on talking to Theresa because she’s responding to him and his friend is just standing there by himself behind him.
This random dude asks me about the décor of the place and I give him a quick stupid response, but a very “Cool story brah” attitude and he ends up stopping talking to me. Theresa needs to learn that, but she keeps entertaining him so he sits next to us when we find a table. Ela eventually goes to the bathroom, which leaves Theresa next to the guy and me awkwardly sitting there. Before this, he was very persistent and tried to get her info, even though she’s leaving on Tuesday. He is adamant about hanging with her on the next day and getting her almost useless phone number… Because she’ll be gone.
I turn away looking for Ela because I don’t want to deal with the awkwardness and then Theresa signals that she wants to leave because the guy is getting close. He was putting his arm around her and apparently tried kissing her, ugh, creeper.
We then go to Doc Holiday’s and meet up with Lyida. She’s doing well and I haven’t seen her in a while. We end up finding a booth for the four of us, but eventually these two guys walk over and sit at the end of the table and try chatting the Germans up. Lydia and I are sitting on one side with me on the outside and Theresa’s on the outside of the other side.
Ela shoots me a look like last time and I give her the same response about being excited about this. Lydia and I then try to be rude to them when they try to talk to us and we actually talk about them right in front of them about people who make moves like this and stuff. It turns out that she’s the one of her friends that always has to bitch out people when her girlfriends get messed with by creepers and she actively actually enjoys bitching people out.
She ends up meeting up with her boyfriend and his friend at the bar and they in the next booth. When the girls walk away for a second, Lydia pulls them over and gives them a speech about she could protect them if they wanted to get rid of the guys, funny stuff.
However, Theresa again is playing along, she actually likes the Australian guy of the two and is chatting him up and stuff. Ela gives me the “usual Theresa” eye roll and we just sit around dealing with it. They want to go to PDT, which I explain is something that Ela would not really enjoy, nor would I since I wouldn’t drink, being DD tonight.
Ela and I take a bit of a walk to get rid of the boredom and take a walk, when we get back, they’re gone. We go to Crif Dogs because we assume there are there. However, they waited too long and lost their reservation and the wait at Crif was too long. We end up splitting from them, but the guys try to say Goodbye. Theresa then gets them again to tag along with us. Pommes Frittes as usual has a ridiculous wait so we have to get Two Bros instead. Long story is the rest that I shouldn’t probably say, but I drive back at 5:30 after dropping off Ela at Grand Central.
On the drive back, I listen to the BBC News about the European Union’s economic situation. They go through Spain and Poland and it’s very exciting to hear about this stuff. First, I do enjoy learning about the EU because I took a class on it in Prague, and I guess I’m a bit of a Europhile. I also like the way the news is presented, there are interviews with experts, but also regular people. The news is also scented with a hint of narrative, so it’s not dry.
There was one that I heard earlier in the week about the unemployment issue with young people and how people were easily dropping out of school. The reporter talked with careful detail talked about the dilapidated situation of this mother’s house, describing what was on TV, the smell of urine, the messy junk and furniture all over. It was fantastic storytelling, yet it was actually news.
I feel old, but I love the radio.

Sobriety is Refreshing

July 10th, 2011
I was chatting until 4AM and I’m able to wake up before 12PM. I had a good night of sleep, my body recovered, and I feel awesome. This really reinforced how I want to change everything. I’m not sluggish at all. On a usual Sunday, I would sleep way into the afternoon, eat something, sit at my computer, and just watch videos and do nothing the entire day. My mouth would be dry, my mind would be fuzzy, and my body would never want to be active.
However, this day, I’ve superman. I’m the complete opposite that I was the day before. I’m down to do stuff today and I’m talking about making moves. I jump in the shower and I’m set on going to the MET. I don’t pussyfoot around. I just gather up my plans, stuff my pockets with my wallet, cellphone, keys, and I’m out the door. Boom.
I get to the MET, but then Ela tells me that her and Lena are going to Central Park. I end up joining them, I guess I could leave the MET for another day, though I only had 2-3 hours before it closes because it’s Sunday. I should find a day where I can pay for the audioset and spend the entire day there.
I get something at Bouchon Bakery, I’m so French, and meet them. We walk around and Ela makes fun of me for wearing jeans on a 90 degree day, but I was supposed to be in a cold museum all day, now I was stuck with them.
After walking for a bit, we go to Keste and Vino for pizza. Some of the best NYC pizza, I’ll write it in my review. We then go to Amorino, a new gelato place.

July 11th, 2011
Jenn calls me and reminds me of this thing she wanted the gang to go, she initially told me about it a month ago. She calls and immediately spews off for about 10 minutes about the situation of the people that make the meals for airplanes and their bad situation and how there’s a labor rally for them. I mean, I listened and retained everything, but I’m a bit surprised that was her approach. I’d assume most people would just blank out because she didn’t even start off with how I was involved in this. It was basically like a news article on the hardships of these workers and I wasn’t quite sure how I fit into the plan.
Turns out she wants the gang to go and support the workers. They’re going to be in Hempstead. I ask the gang, and surprisingly, more people are down than I thought. Spamps has work. Kenny says Yes, which is hugely surprisingly, but I think it turns out he wants to bring his resume and it’s related to his major. Miah is down, which sort of makes sense because he likes this activist stuff. Bolanos even seems willing, which makes absolutely no sense to me. We’ll see if he ends up going.

July 14, 2011
Today is the rally thing and I did actually sort of plan on going, except Nikki, a friend from years ago who moved to Thailand, is in America for a short while and wanted to grab a bite. As a fellow foodie, it was my job to show her the East Village an do a little of a food tour. Then again, I did have reservations for Restaurant Week at the Modern- Bar Room at 10PM the same night.
I get a call from Jenn while I’m at work and I tell her that I can’t go, but she’s really pissed off at me, Jeez, that’s heavy shit on me. I do feel bad, but hey, I have plans and I wasn’t even interested in the rally in the first place, I was just going to go to support Jenn and get to see her since she’s in RI these days working.
I meet up with Nikki and we go to Caracas, Otafuku, and then St. Dymphna’s. By then, it’s time for me to split and meet up with the boys for dinner. The meal is quite good, though the portions are a bit light. We play this game where I gather Bolanos’ “issues.” He always seems to have something to complain about. Just from dinner, he had issues with dancing, waiting for people to get there food at a restaurant, and the French Quebecois. This list will continue on.
After that, we meet up Sam in the Upper West Side. We find this bar that has a sweet deal on Thursday, 5 bottles of beer for $12. They even had $1 beer nights. Jeez, I think we should hang out in this area more. It seems a bit less classy and diverse than the East Village, more the douche college kids, but hey, I’d give it a try especially if the drinks are so cheap.

July 15, 2011
I have lots of moves to make this weekend so I decide to go up to Ela’s BBQ on Friday night instead of tomorrow morning. Her family was gone, but she had to stay in to pet sit, so I forced her to invite people and throw something so she wouldn’t be miserable by herself. The drive up isn’t bad except the part where I got lost in the woods and drove around for almost an extra hour.
Right before I leave, I somehow end up sick right before I leave though. I basically get a full on cold, stuffiness, running noise, everything. I try to man up and I feel like I heal up during the drive.
I get there by 10:30 and the gals are just chilling watching some TV. I awkwardly say Hi, grab a seat, have one beer, and then we head to sleep for the next day.

July 16, 2011
I wake up at 10AM because everyone else is up. I brought a waffle iron to make breakfast for everyone. It’s actually a lot of work to make proper Belgian waffles from scratch, especially since you only can make two waffles at once and I overmade.
After that, I’m super tired so I pass out for an hour while the girls go get lunch (sushi), booze, and some movies. I sit around after an hour while they’re still out a chat a bit with one of the Germans. There’s a French girl and two other Germans than Ela.
The nap doesn’t end up helping and I start feeling super sick. I’m hungry, but I can’t have much more waffles, I had two with Nutella. I have a glass of wine and that’s about all I’ve eaten and drank since the night before. For some reason, I feel quezzy, my head is hurting, and I’m really sluggish. Ela tries to get me to jump in the pool and hang out more, but I’m being a bit of a Debbie Downer, then again, people are mostly just chilling out by the pool not doing much.
A girl from Hungary joins in. I guess the thing isn’t really a BBQ since I’m not cooking up anything. By 5PM, I decide to get going and drive back. There’s a club thing that Nikki is going to and also the rest of the online gang. It’s basically about diversifying myself. I could take it easy and chill out at Ela’s, but I also haven’t seen these people in forever and keeping those connections could be useful.
I get lost in the woods again because they closed a road. However, I’m a genius and use the sun as a sense of direction. Along with asking for some directions, I’m able to find my way back and the drive is actually really easy. Just a highway, a bridge, and that’s it.
I get home and pass the fuck out for 2 hours, but not people gorging on some dollar menu Wendy’s. After that, I’m feeling way way better, so I guess sleep would’ve helped me earlier as well. I was thinking about taking the LIRR and then subway to Long Island City, but decide that since I was feeling shitty earlier, drinking tonight might not be a good idea so why not drive.
I drive there with Bolanos and we meet up with Nikki and go there by 11:30. When we get there, the line is hella long. The cover for guys is $15. At the front of the line is a guy checking people. I’ve never seen a more serious man. The sad thing is, airline security in a post 9/11 world is less intense than this guy.
He first finds a hat in a guy’s pocket. He tells him No hats, the guy says he didn’t know, but he smartly replies, “Then why is it in your pocket?” The guy says he won’t wear it, but the bouncer can’t even trust him with that so he takes it from him and leaves it in the front. With the next guy, he does a serious pat down and then finds a hat in the guy’s pants, “And for a second there, I thought you were really well endowed.” The guy isn’t happy that he tried to sneak a hat in, but lets the guy in. I joke with Bolanos what if someone was hiding a ten gallon hat in their hands.
When he checks Nikki’s bag out, he’s super intense again. He even checks inside her glasses case, and pulls her glasses out to make sure there’s nothing possibly in there. He is 100% checking for drugs because he really made sure every crevice was checked, even the insides of a cigarette pack and looking to the bottom.
With Bolanos and I, he checks inside of my belt and boxers, which is way awkward in public. He’s basically inches away from giving me a handjob. I mean, he’s serious and good at his job, but why is this club in the middle of nowhere really care that much. I doubt they are at fault if someone brings drugs in. Secondly, these are just a bunch of douchey dudes really, no one is bring knives or guns into this place. No offense, these guys are probably the biggest pussies around, they have no use for that shit. I don’t want to be racist, but this ain’t no bounce show in New Orleans. With those shows, I’ve seen metal detectors in the actual menu, classy shit.
We get inside and find Mae. I’ve known her for a bit, but she’s from Virginia and I finally get to meet her. It’s this guy’s record release show and he’s playing on stage, but he ends up not happy about it because there’s no one there. The place is pretty nice, but there are seriously about 30 people there about 5 are women. It’s really a sad sight to see.
Seeing as how long the line was, people must’ve got inside and simply left, even though all the guys had to have paid the $15 cover. So with the intense bouncer, if I was him, I would let the girls with drugs in because you really need drugs to make sure that girls stay at that place. Also, what’s the point of being so strict when you have no one in your place. Just let fucking people in, you’re probably going to close next week because no one is at your club.
I actually bring up an interesting conversation with Nikki, Bolanos, and I are walking to the club. I’ve read on Wiki about how this club stuff makes for economic incentives. They charge guys $15 because they want less guys and the club is doing “A group of 5 girls get a free bottle” service because they want more girls. And it makes sense because you don’t want a place infested with all dudes (even though this place made this incentives and it still ended up being filled with girls, wow, nice job).
However, the true question is, if this is the issue, where are the girls? Seriously, if all the guys are out and girls never show up to places and even if they do, men outnumber women by a huge ratio, then where are the women? There are even more women than men in the population. I really don’t know the answer, but the only thing I can think of is that girls must just stay home by themselves or something. Maybe they are more prone to hanging out with other girls indoors. I really want to pinpoint where all these women are because there’s no reason why on a Saturday night, establishments all over the world have issues filling up places with women while they are overcrowded with men.
Anyway, we plan on staying for a free bottle because they guy played his show, but Nikki says she’s getting a ride home and I don’t want to stay. The club is empty and nothing is happening. The group actually didn’t show up, just Mae and the guy doing the show, who are hooking up. This guy Don from the group, who’s a really nice guy, but that’s it. An awkward small group of us.
Don actually gives me props and I wonder why, he then says that it’s because I know awesome people like Bolanos. He spoke to Bolanos for a bit and apparently they got along. I laugh and joke how Bolanos is going to use this against me weeks later saying, “Hey, remember that guy that said you were awesome because you know ME!” Not that I care, I just thought it was funny to think of Bolanos as an great attribute of me personally and that he even mentioned it.
We end up splitting after 30 minutes or an hour of just sitting around. I’m super disappointed in myself for making such a dead night and wasting a Saturday night, and also how I dragged Bolanos along.
I could’ve had such a better time at Ela’s. I guess I like the minutia of a house party, but I feel like there’s something different about drinking and hanging out a bit earlier than usual and at your own pace during the day/night instead having to go out. There’s no trek, trains, walking around and all that business. I don’t know, there’s a lot of regret running in my head that I should’ve just stayed at a pool party, I could’ve bought some food and BBQed for dinner for them, chilled out, drank a bunch with them later because they did buy liquor and I guess were waiting until night to let loose. Meh, silly me.
Bolanos and I hang out at my place for a bit, we have a beer, end of night. Real Saturday night.

July 17, 2011
I get woken up at 10AM by Miah’s sister looking for him. I don’t know where he is nor how she has my number. I go back to sleep and thought I set an alarm for 12PM, but I didn’t. I end up waking up by myself at 2:30PM, which alerts me that I probably really needed sleep. It’s good that I catch up on sleep on weekends because sleep is super important to me. I can tell some people can operate lacking sleep, but I always make sure I nap and stuff, but I just feel partially no human without sleep. My mind isn’t sharp, I can’t remember certain things and things get stuck at the tip of my tongue, I’m slow and unproductive.
Either way, I’m feeling awesome because it’s a no hangover weekend. I try to see if I want to go into the city, but I don’t see anything specifically attractive that I want to do, so I just give up on that. I end up going at 6PM with Bolanos to do some nerdy Magic stuff in Mineola and that’s my chill day.
In a bigger picture, I’m enjoying this new sober style. Then again, I did have three beers on Thursday when I was out after dinner and felt “it” a bit the next day, but I wasn’t bad. I also had a beer with Nikki when we were grabbing some bites before my dinner with the guys, but that was far out of my system by dinner and afterwards. I then only had a beer at Ela’s on Friday night. I had a glass of wine next to the pool the next day, which maybe didn’t end up being the best idea and probably didn’t help how I was so headached and queezy. I then had a beer with Bolanos when we came back to my place from our dead plans.
So boom, there we go, a week where I can count that I had six drinks and I spread them out really periodically so they were basically chill out drinks other than the few out at the bar on Thursday. I’m really proud of that considering how I’ve had nights where I’ve had double that in one night. Hell, it would be the norm for being to have six on a weekend night, and do it both Friday and Saturday. I’m feeling mentally a lot clearer and physically more active on weekends. My mood is up. And I get the bonus of being healthier and being able to lose weight instead of being at a constant struggle of dieting, but being stable because of the drinking calories. Lets see where we go with this new plan.

An Era is Gone: New Man

July 9th, 2011
After a work week and long night of drinking, I try to sleep a lot, which helps me stay human. I sleep before 8:00, I get up by 4:00, so that’s pretty good actually. I’m feeling pretty good and wonder if I’ll be doing stuff tonight.
I falter a bit and end up trying to rest for a bit. Boom, it’s time to catch the 8:50 and I’m all showered up and ready to walk to the station. However, something just quite isn’t right. I’m not feeling proper. I tried to drink loads of water, eat, do some pushups (gets blood flowing), etc. to get rid of my hangover. I guess it must be the adrenaline in me pushing me, but I end up calling it a night and chilling at home. I just didn’t feel proper to be able to make it into the city.
By 9:00PM, I’m trying to pass out. Even after eating, drinking loads of water, and trying to treat myself, I go into the gutter. I constantly have that vomit taste in my mouth, the one where you know you’re going to throw up. I try to, but I can’t.
I lay down in bed trying to sleep and I’m just in the worst possible sick state ever. My hands can’t keep completely steady, my head hurts, my mouth is constantly dry, and my stomach is just not sitting down food. It’s the worst. My mom even stops by the hosue to pick up some stuff and I don’t even bother saying Hi. I actually hopes she doesn’t walk into my room that has the lights turned off because I’m in such a messed up state that I couldn’t have a conversation with her without her being able to tell something was wrong.
However, by about 12:00-1:00AM, I get proper. I’m starting to get a clear head, things aren’t hurting, and I’m feeling like myself. I keep drinking water, chat with Tracy and people online and call it a night. Nice and easy. I’m glad to be able to sleep without feeling sick like I was all day.
Aaron gets Bolanos’ phone and tries to creep on the Germans and get them out. Ela was texting me and bored, but Lena was asleep and Ela definitely was not going out and was probably asleep by them.

It turns out that I’m no longer the hero that I used to be. Aaron and I have had this conversation and the hangovers have gotten exponentially worse. I used to never understand the word hangover. In Prague, I seriously never got them. Then I started having to drink liters of water before I went to sleep when I was at NYU, but that was still fine. Now, even on a regular tipsy or drunk night, the effects come and they come hard.
Lets take a recap of the night. Kenka double beer (2.5) + McSoreley’s 5 of the mugs (2.5) + Shot and beer at Sophie’s (2) + Lovers drink, stiff cocktail (1.5) + Screwdrivers at Aaron’s (1.5) = 10 drinks
That is a lot, but nothing that I couldn’t do before. And also, I started at 9:30PM, didn’t get home until 7AM, so that’s almost 10 hours for my body to deal with those drinks. If anything, I would expect my old self to be completely fine. I even absolutely gorged myself during dinner to make sure that I wouldn’t be on an empty stomach. I also felt fine the night of. At no point did I feel sloppy drunk or that I needed someone to tell me to stop.
However, the next day was gone, even 24 hours after having my first drink, I was sicker than a dog. The result was I absolutely lost an entire Saturday. A weekend day completely gone. A day that I could’ve used getting stuff done in the house or going out chilling, or even better, having a day in the city.
I’ve already known that it’s gotten worse and worse, but now it’s just ridiculous. Nothing’s changed with the circumstances surrounding it. If anything, I have been drinking a lot less for a while, even though my tolerance is the same. I have been trying really hard to avoid these super hangovers. However, this day really annoyed me. I can no longer mess with having days like these. Life is too short. This could mean that I should just have my fun, but I care too much about my sober consciousness.
Maybe I can have 2-3 on a night out, but now, I don’t think I can put myself through that horrible feeling again. I really hope I will change for the better.

July

July 2, 2011
Ela was supposed to be busy, but turned out to be free today. I’m glad I didn’t really do much the night before and didn’t really drink so I was up and active before 12:00PM. I was running around, showered up, and making plans for what to do in the city. I get into the city early by 2:00. I got into the city at a record speed because I guess people are either vacationing and out of NYC or staying in for the weekend. The traffic was just nonexistent.
I go to Banh Mi Zon, which is the best banh mi I’ve had in my life. I wanted to go to the “best” coffee, Abraco, but it was closed for the long weekend. Ela finally gets in and I meet her at Grand Central and then we walk all the way to Central Park through the street fair. It’s pretty cool. It’s 14 blocks of street food, jewelry, pictures, paintings, all kinds of stuff.
On the way, I stop at a few French bakeries and then we go by Whole Foods. We then walk to the lake in Central Park and see a couple get engaged on a gondola. We then see this Asian couple trying to paddle because they have no clue how to, which is hilarious. The guy then finally figures to row, but forwards, instead of backwards. A pushing action instead of a pulling action, which looks silly because everyone is rowing correctly.
We then walk all over around and see this electic group of people dancing to funk music. There are people on old school roller blades, people hula hooping, shirtless men dancing around (both hugely fat and jacked ones). Ela said that after watching all those characters, that she will never feel weird again. I say that I feel like I’m a depressed person. I’ve never seen people so happy about dancing to funk music, and I bet they’ve been doing that for 4 hours straight with no break.
We then go and sit around at Columbus Circle for a bit until she goes home. I made it seem like she could hang, but I don’t know, she doesn’t ever drink anything because she has to drive back home from the station. It’s a decent code to go by because Germany apparently is a lot rougher on drunk driving than here.
I wait around and have nothing to do for a while. I grab dinner at Xi’An Foods and wait around at International Bar. Scott and Bola show up and then we go to Sophie’s with Stefan. We hang there for a bit until Stefan has to split. The three of us then go to Manitoba, which is pretty low key, but a very cool bar.
I then get into an argument with mostly Bolanos and a bit of Scott. I try to explain to them that we’re only boys and that Howard Kantrowitz giving his speech at the graduation party was one of the most important moments of his life. If he’s going to shed a tear, then so fucking be it. Next to marriage, having children, etc., I can really understand the impact of that moment. Bolanos’ defense is that he cries at other events, which is means nothing to that situation. He then says that he supports not externalizing and that Howard’s feeling should just be “understood” by his family, without saying anything. He also said he just wouldn’t give a speech in the first place. Then obviously, it’s just Bolanos’ psychological issues of not being able to publicly speak around friends and family, and then the bigger issue of not being able to show emotion to loved ones. That’s definitely something that needs therapy, at least if that’s the case when he has children and a family.
A view he did defend was bitching about his graduation party. Apparently some random family friend wanted a bottle opener and Bolanos told him it was a twist off. The guy responded in a joking way that he didn’t just graduate from college. So random dumb comment by nobody. A year and a month away, our hero still is livid about nothing. You mad.
Either way, Aaron comes with these Asian twins and a guy and we go to Sophie’s. On the way, we stop by Sunny and Annie’s where one of the twins drops a bag of chips and steps on it. The Korean owner tries to deal with the ruckus, but Aaron is on top of it. He drunkingly shouts at his pal, telling him that he needs to pay for the chips that he has stepped on. He is very commanding and the owner figures that Aaron has taken care of the situation and backs off.
Outside of Sophie’s, there’s a few thrown out matresses. This guy jumps on then and looks like he breaks his face on the fall, but apparently he’s fine. Aaron tells the guy that he now has bed bugs. The guy’s friend then calls out Aaron that he’s a paranoid hypochondriac or something. Bolanos and I jokingly play out what it would be like if the bugs got onto you if you simply on jumped on a mattress.
At Sophie’s, Aaron’s friends split as well as Scott. Bolanos, Aaron, and I stay for a bit until I drive Bolanos and I back.

July 8, 2011
Corinne finally gives me a call earlier in the week and she’s free this Friday. I haven’t seen her in months and I even had her birthday gift that was from months ago that I never ended up giving her. We make plans to do our usual Kenka. Ela’s bestie from home is visiting, Lena, so I meet them up at 9:30 at Kenka. We chat and stuff, it’s a good time. I bring up going to Boston at some point and Ela hits me and has to remind me that we already made plans to go in the first week of August. She told me a month ago, how am I supposed to remember that. Okay, there we go, I guess her and I are visiting Boston and Corinne soon.
After Kenka, we go to Ela’s favorite place, McSoreleys. The Germans have to go back to the hotel because Lena forgot her ID. Corinne and I have a dual beer combo. Corinne has to get home when the Germans get back. She’s moving back to Boston next week because of family issues.
Aaron joins us and after another round, we go to the usual, Sophies. After a few more drinks, we go to Lovers of Today bar, which is a really awesome speakeasy. On the way there, I need to catch up with them because I left my umbrella at Sophie’s. I end up racing a cab and running top speed in the East Village. Bad idea. I’m lucky I didn’t fall, break my face, or completely tackle someone. Aaron said I almost did.
After that, it’s getting late, but we go to Aaron’s apartment to see the sunrise on the roof. I stupidly decide to get ambitious and could’ve caught the 5:19. Instead, I wait around and the Germans split up and I go to Penn Station waiting almost an hour because I missed the 5:19. Taking the 6:19, real fucking classy. I even have to buy a newspaper to keep my sanity because my iPod is out of power. The walk back isn’t actually that bad because I’m sobered up almost and it’s very nice and sunny.

June Gloom

June 4, 2011
Jenn and I grab some coffee in town. She needs to go into the city and I was planning to go in anyway, so I drive in with her. We grab a beer at Slainte and then go to Uniqlo. I return some stuff and we split. I go to the Flatiron Building to take some pics and then have a great Shake Shack burger. I then meet up with Atron and we shit around and drink some Old Fashioneds.
I then go to Baoguette with Bolanos and we then meet up with Atron to go to Idle Hands Bar. We then make fun of Continental, yet still go there because Murray and his friends are there. I then get a call from Stefan who is supposed to meet us. I hear Elena in the background complaining about her heels.
Outside of Continental, we run into Elyse and Nate, which is ridiculous because now it’s a freaking family reunion when Elena and Stefan show up. We go to Fish Bar, which has become a chill bar that I really do like. We then go to Sophies. We then go to South Brooklyn Pizza and I drive back with Bolanos.

June 8, 2011
It’s scorching hot as shit, but it’s a good day to catch up on stuff. I have plans to go to museums this weekend. At home, I check out this documentary I downloaded on Italian Renaissance painting. It’s not really my style, but it’s nice to learn about the Renaissance, Michaelangelo, and da Vinci. I then continue watching the series of Italian gardens. The guy does Rome, which is gorgeous. I then move onto a documentary on the women of Rockabilly. It’s really cool to see the genre grow and how that music was fought against my the religious crazies.

June 9, 2011
Miah and Spamps came over last night to hang and I don’t get to sleep late. I’m on and off about being diligent and working 5 days a week, but I decide that I’m taking off and going back down to 4 days. I gotta chillax, get a good sleep schedule going, and have some me time.
I sleep in like a real motherfucker even though I emailed my boss late night that I wanted to change plans. I have ot wake up at 8-9:00 to confirm that I’m not actually going in, done. After fighting waking up and going back to sleep, I sleep all the way until 3:00PM. That’s serious. I guess I needed the sleep real bad. I then make some breakfast as in a kimchi, chicken, vegetable, etc. stir fry and pick myself off my ass to go to Panera.
It’s chill as hell here and I can get stuff done. While I’m trying to figure out my plans for the weekend, write some Yelp reviews, and read up, I’m watching this great documentary on Impressionism. When the guy starts off and says it’s 2 hours long, I’m hesistant and not sure if I want to sit through it all, but I’m 15 mintues through and it’s great, so I’ll keep going.

June 10, 2011
I meet up at Hop Devil and loads of people are there that I haven’t seen in a while, Josh, Jonah, Kerri, and Tork. We hang there for a while and then we split and go to Tom’s friend’s bday at Von with Atron and Stefan. Stefan has a new faux hawk haircut, which makes him look supah fly. It takes a bit adjusting to. After that, we meet up with Lydia and go up to Sidebar and stand around there for a bit until we stop for one last beer at Blind Pig and head back.

June 11, 2011
I should take it easier again. I’ve been doing well, but I guess nobody is perfect yet. It’s not that I was a mess the next day, but I did want to sleep in and didn’t end up going to a Yelp event at 2PM. I end up meeting Ela at the Guggenheim, though my phone didn’t have service so I go in for a bit and finally find her waiting at the lobby.
We wait around for a bit until we grab dinner and then go downtown to meet up for Murary’s bday. We go to a few bars, Brandon stops by, and we go to Off the Wagon. I end up dropping Ela by the subway and end up driving back myself, but not before getting some awesome Indian food. Greenwich these days seems pretty cool. There’s a bunch of awesome food places, some of which are new, and I could definitely get into trying them out.

June 17, 2011
Today is the Beirut concert and Spamps drives out there with Bowen. We walk over to the concert as it starts and it’s in a park. There are people outside the fence listening to the concert, so it makes me think… Why did I pay $30 for this concert?
We get there and after a few songs, I grab a Heineken for $6. We end up meeting Jonah and the show ends before 9:45. It’s not a bad show, but I was expecting better. I guess the outdoor acoustics and it not being so intimate hurt it. Jonah and Spamps are dilly dallying around waiting for Caroline without plans on where to eat, so Bowen and I split up to get our drank on. I’ve never been out with him so it’s cool hanging out with him finally.
We walk all the way down Bedford in Williamsburg and finally go into a place that I’ve been to. It serves Bud in a 32 oz. Styrofoam cup for $4. What a sick deal. I get one for bro because it was his 21st a few days ago. We then go to another place to hang with a beer and shot. Then we meet up with Spamps, Caroline, and Jonah and go to the Ale House and have a few drinks until we drive back.

June 18, 2011
It turns out that I’m still pretty sick and don’t end up gong to the city. I’ve been getting sick once a week for the past four weeks, I guess it’s the adjusting to the temperature and also the temperature swings between the outdoors and cold indoors sometimes. This one has been lasting forever though and I pretty much sleep all day. Tom and Bolanos come over at night to hang for a bit. We Smokesmash a bit, watch an episode of Undercover Boss (Hooters), and that’s about it.

June 19, 2011
I’m finally over my cold and Ela gives me a call that she’s going into the city today. Sweet. I wanted to go to the Met and Central Park, but I guess other plans. I convince her to do Highline instead of Central Park because I want to see the opening of the second part of the park. I drive in and meet her and two other au pairs at Chelsea Market. Ela tells me that our backstory is that we met when she visited New York four years ago and asked for directions because the Stickam backstory is sketchy.
At Chelsea, I get a small, but entire miche (sourdough bread loaf). I then go to the grocery and get some salami and cheese. For $10, that’s a sick deal considering a sandwich at that place might come out to that much. We walk around the Highline for a bit until we sit down to eat. I just pick at pieces of bread and throw on some meat and cheese, they refused to cut it up for me. It works out though, that’s how you’re supposed to picnic.
We walk the entire park, which isn’t big and then drive down to Washington Square Park. We hang out there for a few hours. There are these black dudes that do a couple jumping stunts, but it’s more like 30 minutes of a stand up routine and shtick of race jokes. They’re actually pretty clever, but it really is way too long. Then there’s a guy that does some contortionist stuff. Then there’s a random guy playing saxophone. There’s also a group of older people who play classic rock/folk songs. Cool eclectic group they have going.
After, we grab some dinner. They grab Artichoke and I get banh mi, which ended up sucking. While we’re sitting down at the park, there’s a guy who takes down his pants right in front of us, sits down on the chain link blocking off the grass, and decides to take a shit. At 9:20PM, when people are still filled up in the park. There were even people closer than us, we immediately just got up and walked away because hell, that is fucking disgusting, but especially surprising. They split, I split. It definitely was a day to go out into the city because I had just gotten rid of my cold and it really is a sobering feeling to have that lifted off of your shoulders and finally feel energized to do stuff and enjoy things. Being sick is horrifically miserable. You just want to sit around, doing nothing, and eat shitty because you don’t feel satisfied eating super healthy like I usually do.

June 24, 2011
So I recently got into St. John’s and I get back early at night from Mineola and get people to come over. People are taking forever to come over and chill out so I start early and crack a liter sized Asahi. I’m chillin’ in the chat for a bit with my friend Mae. Tom and Bolanos come over. I wake up Stefan who was supposed to show up an hour ago and he heads over. So does Spamps.
We hang out for a bit and Ela’s on Skype. Stefan eventually passes out on the couch until people leave and he gets kicked out.

June 25, 2011
Ela says she’s going into the city. I plan some stuff out and then take the train in. I meet up with Aaron and Murray at Washington Square Park, but not before getting croissant and macaron near NYU. I then get a pretzel truck and meet up with Julia and Ela. Us boys get Joe Art of Coffee and then go back to the park. It’s the Dyke March and there are loads of lesbo. We see them topless and shit dancing in the park’s fountain.
Aaron and Murray split up. Ela, Julia, and I go to International Bar, which has a back area until 10PM. I then go to This Little Piggy for a sandwich then meet up with them stopping by at Coyote Ugly. There’s a bachelorette party going on and the girls are dancing on the bar. There’s a classy guy at the end of the bar saying that if they want to get off of the bar, they should get off at his side because “That’s where the party is.” What a class act. I also joke that some guy’s neck is really going to hurt tomorrow because they’re sitting at the bar with their necks arched in a crazy angle.
We walk over to the McSoreley’s, which is crowded worse than it is usually is. We don’t stay there for long and then head out and go to Jimmy’s No. 43, which is nice, but the menu is just really expensive beers so we leave. We then go to Double Down and meet up with Kenny and Bolanos. Stefan wandered off. The three were busy watching soccer on a Saturday night, what a great use of time. Speaking about sports, Aaron makes one of the most brilliant comments about sports. In baseball, if there are 162 games, how could people care when we wouldn’t care as much as getting laid that many times a year?
Bolanos has to be a smartass and BF (bomb facts) like usual because that’s all he does. He goes off complaining about how boring Double Down in and I pull off an act. I tell him that if he wants to go somewhere, then leave. Try convincing people to go somewhere else better, but only if you could even find a place in the area that you’ve been hanging out for for years. Yeah, someone who thought Sophie’s was on 10th and 1st Ave., which I then proceeded to walk with him to until he realized that he wasn’t even close to Sophie’s, a bar we go to weekly, for years. Just to show him who’s right and also why he needs to learn some directions.
I get called out for being mad, but that’s just my good acting. In all seriousness though, it’s just childish to complain to other people about my choice of a bar to head to because I’m leading the way and making people make moves. Instead, be a man, see if people really don’t like the place that much, then suggest a better place and do it. I’m no Nazi and don’t need people to go anywhere without their liking. If people want to go somewhere, then so be it, but don’t try to tarnish my credibility beacause you have nothing else to do.
We go to Sophie’s and meet up with Elena and her new b/f. People are surprised that I know Shauna, because I’m awesome and the bartender remembers me there. Stefan’s a funny guy and always walking around talking to random people. He actually hangs out with strangers more than he hangs out with us when we’re out.
Julia and Ela have to catch their train so I walk them over. We hang out at Sophie’s for a bit until we split. Bolanos has a ride and Stefan and I take the train back home. On the train, Stefan sits next a girl in a three seater even though there was an over three seater. I resist, but then join him. We end up chatting up this girl named Morgan, who actually was quite an awesome gal. Stefan ends up asking for her number and tries to make plans with her as I was a wing for him.
She jokes that, “Oh, I should give you my number then,” at one point, which I end up telling Stefan is a IOI (indicator of interest). She’s also smart enough to say that we’re not “jerks,” like most dudes. Either way interesting time and nice to see that there are decent, funny, intelligent girls out there.