Tuesday 16 August 2011

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.

Monday 1 August 2011

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.